Hanabira
by Frostings
Summary: A series of one shots that illustrate Kakashi and Sakura's relationship through the years. KakaSaku
1. Paradise

**Paradise**  
_When she was just a girl_  
_She expected the world_

* * *

Sakura was seeing red.

Vaguely, she knew what she looked like: Living death. She had spent the better part of the day sparring with Tsunade-sama, and the older woman made sure that she felt every minute of it. All Sakura could see right now was the ground beneath her feet, and the drip-dripping of blood flowing from a nasty cut courtesy of her new teacher.

She was a mess, but walking home by herself, no matter how slowly, was the very least she could do with her pride intact. Her neck and head hurt too much to even look up, but she knew that she was getting very strange looks from passers-by.

Sakura thought she was ready. She really did. Her parents had always said that she was born ready. She was declared to be a genius at the tender age of four, and although her parents foresaw some glamorous career in the law or business, they were strangely proud of her decision to become a ninja, instead. Sakura knew even then that the normal, civilian world held little to no surprise to her, and her parents had supported her to carry on with that dream.

When she arrived at the city, she truly believed that it was hers for the taking. She should've been more careful with her pride, but then again she had been as careful with it as she had with her heart. At the first moment she stepped into her new school, she was established to be very, very ordinary indeed.

_How can you be a ninja with that stupid hair of yours? The enemy will spot you in a minute!_

_They can use her forehead as a mirror for sending sign_als.

Inner Sakura had been born out of this teasing. She wanted to say something back, but couldn't. Somehow her confidence shrank under all these talented children, most of them who boasted at least one jounin in the family. She never could say anything back then. Couldn't say anything to Tsunade-sama now.

Tsunade's taunts from earlier that day replayed in her mind._ Don't waste my time, Sakura. Your apprenticeship is hanging by a thread. _She had successfully put Sakura in a rage by then, and rage was never your friend in a fight.

Shit, it hurt all over.

But she wasn't going to give up. She left the civilian world a long, long time ago. This was her place, and she had a job to do. Yes. She had to keep thinking that, or else she was just going to crumple up into a heap in the middle of the street, and where would that leave her? Sasuke had left her. Even Naruto had left her.

And that hurt even more.

A shadow fell across the path. She still couldn't look up, but didn't have to. A familiar man crouched in front of her, one gray eye blinking sleepily up her face.

"Yo." He scratched his head, not alarmed in the least at the sight of his battered and bleeding former student. "You break your neck or something?"

Scratch that. Some things never changed. She managed to crack out a smile for him. "Something like that." she confirmed.

"Hn." The blood was dripping at the area near his toes now, but he still didn't look too disturbed about it. She suddenly felt irrationally angry towards her former teacher, on top of everything else. He was supposed to teach her something! Anything! Anything that could have at least lessened this very sad situation she found herself in.

After a few more seconds, she decided that he was just annoying her, to rub it in her face that she was so unprepared and pathetic, so she made a move to the right. "See you around, Kakashi-sensei." she managed to whisper, her pain mercifully numbing out any emotion that would betray her humiliation. Now all she needed was for Ino to see her in that state as a cherry on top of this humiliation cake.

Maybe there was still time. Sakura could just walk home, call up her mother._ Hi mom,_ she imagined herself saying._ My heart is broken and my ass is beat. Can I come home? _She let her imagination roam a little further: a degree in mathematics, a quiet life with 2.5 children, a small garden to tend to, a loving, if slightly bland, husband to come home to. No more getting punched and kicked, no more explosions, no more jutsus, no more people who loved her and then left her. What was wrong with that? Her mother and everyone she knew in her hometown had that kind of life, and they were perfectly happy. And she had been the best in that life. Unlike here.

Yes, she could leave it all behind. It startled her to think that she even had that option. Being a ninja was all she'd ever known, but that other life was open to her, unlike anyone else's. So easy.

She didn't have time to pursue that train of thinking before she found herself being lifted gently off the ground. She just had enough pain tolerance in her to peek up to Kakashi's impassive face.

"Shut up, Sakura." he said.

_I didn't say anything, stupid! _She found herself angrily retorting in her head. But everything hurt too much, and being carried home by her former teacher just made things doubly worse, so she squirmed in his arms, trying to get back on her feet.

Finally, it was clear that he wasn't going to let her go, and even her minimal struggling hurt. Sakura sighed and allowed herself to relax a little in her former teacher's arms. She stared at her toes glumly, wondering what he thought of her now. She was a little too old to be carried this way,she decided, and she could even remember the time when she could fit a little more neatly in this configuration.

She was also bleeding into his shirt, but he didn't seem to mind.

After a few minutes, he was climbing up a familiar flight of stairs, and bypassed her apartment's lock with unnerving ease. She made a mental note to buy another set of locks, something more reliable.

Kakashi marched her over her bed and set her down gently. He drew back and set his hands on his hips, as if surveying her damage. That was a good way to put it. He retreated to her tiny kitchen and came out with a little bowl of water and a towel. He drew up a chair beside her bed and began dabbing the dried blood off her face.

It was painful, but it took a lot of her remaining strength to reach out and grab his wrist to still his movements. It was too much. Too humiliating. She trained her eyes on his hooded one, hoping she'd sound firm even if she didn't feel like it. "Sensei. Please stop. I'll be fine."

Kakashi's default expression was that of being perpetually unreadable. But he casually flicked her hand off and continued what he was doing, and all Sakura could do was lie back and let him do it, wishing she was anywhere but here.

Finally, he spoke. "Why are you doing this, Sakura?"

Do what? Train? Fight? He'd seen her in worse shape than this, and she suspected Tsunade-sama took it easy on her. It wasn't like she specifically asked Tsunade-sama to hand her ass to her. She just...pushed Tsunade-sama to do it. So, Sakura played stupid.

"What?"

"Don't act stupid." his voice was stern, like he was about to lecture her. He didn't. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She looked out of the window as he gently removed her shoes and her gloves. She felt like she was a little kid again, and she hated it.

He drew back, sighing softly. "Sakura. I know that it seems like throwing yourself into physical hurt will make you feel better. But do you feel better?"

She didn't say anything, but she knew the answer._ No, I don't feel better._But she wasn't going to let him know that. What, NOW he felt bad for her? He practically ignored her for the better part of her tutelage under him. Now look where that left her. Let him stew. It was childish, but Sakura didn't really feel like being mature right then.

Sensing that he wasn't about to get an answer from her, he rested his hands on his knees and made a move to stand up. "I'll send some medic-nin to look you over, Sakura." he said, sounding bored again.

She looked over him, and somehow the sight of another retreating team member's back-even if it was her stupid, lazy teacher-made her heart twist rather painfully. All thoughts of self-pity fled her then, replaced by the fear of being left behind. Again.

"Sensei."

He stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. She looked contrite, and she knew he was slightly surprised at how quick her turnaround was. But she was too exhausted to even cry. She probably didn't have the strength to hold onto whatever it was she was feeling for too long. "I'm sorry." she said.

He shrugged. "Don't apologize to me. Be nicer to yourself." he turned around again, one hand raised in farewell. She nodded, then shifted her eyes back to the ceiling.

She did look pretty beat up. And sad. He wondered what she was thinking about. In any case, he hoped he took his words to heart. He found he couldn't walk away, which was annoying. With a huff, he summoned a small cloud of smoke, which produced a small dog.

"Yo." Pakkun greeted.

"Go send for a medic-nin, will ya? Sakura-chan needs some help." Kakashi instructed him. He walked back to Sakura's bedside, and put a gentle hand on the girl's forehead. "I'll keep watch over this one."

Sakura closed her eyes at his touch. For some reason, that simple gesture already made her feel better. She thought about that phone call, that other life. She thought about Sasuke and Naruto. And Kakashi.

That other life could wait.


	2. Everything Has Changed

**Everything Has Changed**  
_All I know is we said hello _  
_And your eyes looked like coming home_

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was a man of simple pleasures. All he ever needed in his life were within the four walls of his home: a new edition of Icha Icha, some ramen, tea, and a schedule free from sneaky missions or saving the village.

He stretched out lazily on his futon, staring up at the ceiling. He'd been reading the new Icha Icha nonstop since he woke up four hours ago, and had hardly bestirred himself since. This particular edition was quite engrossing: it involved masked marriages, a vengeful count, and a possibly bisexual pirate queen. It was all good.

Until his stomach growled.

He flipped over his side, eyeing Pakkun and the other ninken who were also in various stages of dozing in his apartment. "Hey, Pakkun." he finally called.

The tiny dog opened one eye, clearly disgruntled. "What?"

"Cook me some lunch, will you." Based on the empty instant ramen noodles around his futon, he was pretty sure he'd run out of his supply.

"Do I look like I have opposable thumbs to you, Kakashi?" the dog huffed.

"No."

"So there's your answer."

It was Kakashi's turn to huff. These dogs, honestly. Such ingrates. Lazy ingrates. With an almighty groan, he hauled himself his futon, stretching out again with a huge yawn. He grabbed a nearby shirt, gave it an experimental sniff to test if it was still wearable, decided that it was, and put it on. He was quick to put on the other things that made him decent to the outside world: pants, shoes, sharp pointy things to kill people with, the usual.

He made his way downstairs deciding whether he'd go to the grocery to pick up more instant noodles or to go to Ichiraku to get some real food. But he was hungry now, so he decided: Ichiraku first, then buy a month's worth of instant ramen.

Good plan.

He steered himself through the village streets, keeping mostly to himself. Really, Konoha was quite a picturesque, almost sleepy town to live in. Tourists would love visiting this place. If not for the crazy shinobi vendettas, clan killings, and occasional monster attacks, it was quite the ideal place to raise kids in. He should suggest that tourist angle to Tsunade-sama, next time she accused him of being an unhelpful citizen of Konoha.

As he was thinking this over, his eye grazed over to the other side of the road, where a pair of shapely legs caught his attention. God bless the summer weather, shorts, and the long-legged girls who wore them. His gaze climbed up, only to rest on the back of a very familiar girl. A familiar girl with familiar pink hair.

Oh. Awkward.

Luckily, no one seemed to notice his wandering eye, much less Sakura, whose attention seemed fully fixed on the store display. A pair of mannequins were wearing very pretty, slightly frilly sundresses, with the additional enticement of the word SALE displayed right next to them. After another minute's worth of hesitation, Sakura seemed to make up her mind and marched herself into the store.

Kakashi was in a mind to leave her alone so he could have his lunch, but Sakura's actions had piqued his interest. She hadn't been too much into girly stuff since she was twelve, and was almost as stingy as he was. She would be willing to give her own blood for her teammates, sure, but asking her to treat her friends to dinner was like trying to extract blood from a stone. For her to practically frogmarch herself into the notably expensive store, well, he was pretty sure that shenanigans were afoot. And he was always one to stick his nose into shenanigans.

He crossed the street and entered the store casually. No point in exerting himself with hiding. He'd just ask Sakura what was up outright, then go back to getting his lunch. Small bells hanging above the door announced his arrival, and he was greeted by a saleslady in pastel pink. In fact, the whole store was an explosion of pastel colors, mostly dresses, and the air smelled like it was perfumed by pastel-colored flowers too.

What the heck was that girl up to?

He spotted Sakura at the far end of the shop, talking quietly with one saleslady who was holding up two dresses to compare. He strode up to them, and tapped the kunoichi on the shoulder.

She didn't seem surprised, only resigned. And kinda annoyed. This was going to be fun. "Hello." she said.

"Hello." he ignored the sales lady's quizzical look. "What are you doing?"

"Shopping for a dress." she paused. "Obviously."

"Yes, thank you for the explanation. I thought you were on an ANBU assignment just then, between the cherry print and the raspberry print. The question I meant to ask is, why? What's up? Are you dying or something?"

Sakura stared at him like he had sprouted another head. "That's what you're going to ask me? No, 'Hi Sakura, glad to see you're still alive!' or 'Hi Sakura, how are you doing?'"

"Nope, I'm just here to be nosy." he confirmed, smiling cheerfully under his mask. "I haven't seen you in such a girly store since you learned how to throw a kunai properly."

A flash of irritation crossed her face. Ah. They were getting somewhere. He saw her debate whether or not to tell the truth, and he could see that she decided to tell the truth. She should really learn how to take command of her expressions. She was easier to read than an Icha Icha plot summary, which was not much.

"I have a date."

Ooh. Now this was really interesting. He silently commanded his stomach to shut up for a moment until Sakura decided to spill the beans. "With who, if I may ask?"

She coughed a little and turned her face away. "With Naruto. Of course."

Of course. Of course?

"So you ARE dying." he concluded. He could see a vein throbbing on Sakura's forehead, and with all the calmness she could muster, politely dismissed the saleslady. She spun on him, whisper-yelling:

"Why are you SUCH a JERK?" she spun back towards the dresses without waiting for a reply. He could hear her muttering to herself as she grabbed random dresses off the shelves. "No privacy! I swear to god! The only time I could come here...!"

He held up a dress. "This would look cute on you, Sakura!"

"ARRRGH!" she was exasperated, but took the dress anyway, practically charging to the changing rooms, slamming the door behind her.

He walked up to it, hands in pockets. "It's not that big of a deal, anyway." he lied. Naruto had just come home after a rather lengthy S-class mission with Jiraiya, and something must've happened to him to ask Sakura out seriously. The realization of one's mortality did that to people sometimes. One minute you're as carefree like a lark in the spring, and the next you're already regretting the rest of your life. From the crack under the door, he heard Sakura shucking her clothes off, starting with those shorts.

Hmm.

The door suddenly opened, and Sakura stepped out of the changing room wearing the green dress he chose for her. She wasn't there to ask for his opinion, judging on her expression, but he liked it on her anyway.

"Do you think it's a bad idea?" she asked softly, looking troubled, not quite meeting his eye.

Yes, he thought, but didn't say. He chose a diplomatic tack, "Well, what do you think?" Was he really here, talking to a former student about loooooove? While shopping? Really, Kakashi? He just went here to tease Sakura.

Well, he decided, it would make sense, since he had been witness to the weird push-pull Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had on each other. This seemed to be on Sakura's mind as well. His gaze wandered to her discarded clothing on the floor. Hmm.

"I do care for Naruto." she finally said.

"News to me." he deadpanned.

"I mean...!" she was blushing now. "He's always been there for me, and he loves me, and I just keep thinking, what if the guy for me had been right under my nose all along?" she held out her hands for emphasis. She'd long figured out that her infatuation with Sasuke was just silly and childish; it also didn't help that she wouldn't be seeing Sasuke for a long, long time, seeing that he had voluntarily exiled himself to atone for his sins.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Sakura." he intoned seriously. "Don't get too worked up about it. It's just a date. Just go enjoy yourselves." but it occurred to him that she and Naruto probably didn't know how. It was kind of depressing, Kakashi reflected, how all ninjas were denied normal stuff like dating and growing up like a normal teenager.

She brightened considerably at that. Guess his advice still held some weight even now. "I guess." She looked down on the dress, thinking. "You know, this actually is pretty cute. I might just get this one." and with that, she closed the door on him. Kakashi shook his head. Women. He was pretty sure Sakura could show up to that date wearing a rice sack and Naruto would still think she was the most beautiful creature in the world.

Well, that was that. Curiosity sated. Time for lunch.

"You have any plans for lunch?" she asked him through the door as he was about to step away.

Oh god. Did he really want to have girl time with Sakura? But he found himself replying, "Ichiraku. Wanna come with?"

"Yeah." the door flung open again and Sakura was back to her normal clothing, green dress in one hand. "Let me just pay for this."

With shopping out of the way, the two found themselves back to strolling Konoha's streets, keeping a comfortable silence. Finally, Sakura spoke up. "I haven't seen much of you lately, sensei. Lots of missions?"

He gave a noncommittal shrug. "New Icha Icha then," Sakura concluded.

"You said it." he was actually itching to whip out said Icha Icha, but they've arrived at Ichiraku. The two slid into the well-worn seats with ease and ordered their usuals. "What time is your date?" he asked.

"Later this afternoon."

"Should you be eating now, then?"

"I always eat before I go on a date. So I won't have the compulsion to shove food in my mouth at the actual date." Hmm. Sakura had been on other dates before? When did that happen? The long-awaited lunch finally arrived, and Kakashi decided to let it go. "If I'm doing this, I'm doing this properly." she continued, oblivious of Kakashi's furrowed brow.

"It's nice that you're making an effort for him." he said, after he'd practically finished his ramen in one gulp. It seemed kind of useless, in his opinion, he thought, putting on an effort with the dress and the polite eating norms. Naruto and Sakura had seen each other in their most miserable states, especially during the times when they camped out during missions. They've pooped and peed in bushes during those trips, pretending the other didn't know. And yet they still wanted to dress up for each other. Strange. Both of them were fine the way they were.

Sakura wiped her mouth delicately after letting out a loud burp. "Well it'd be mortifying if he changed his mind now, would it?"

Kakashi laughed, reaching out to ruffle Sakura's hair. "He won't change his mind." he said mildly.

She smiled back at him. Why hadn't he seen her for so long? He had missed her. And Naruto. He made a mental note to cut back on the Icha Icha, not that he could, not really. She suddenly shook free of him and checked her watch. "I've gotta get ready."

And to both their surprise, she leaned over and kissed him on his cheek. She blushed. Hmm.

"Thanks for all your meddling. Or help. Whatever it was." she joked, hopping off the seat.

"Anytime you need someone to choose dresses for you." he waved her off lazily. She waved back, and with a renewed vigor in her step, hurried off. Only then did he realize that she left him to foot the bill.

Distraction before fleeing. That girl did pick up some tricks from him.

A few hours later, after wandering aimlessly around in circles, Kakashi, quite by accident, truly and honestly, cross his heart and hope to die, managed to glimpse Sakura in her new green dress, hurrying to an upscale restaurant. She had her hair up, and it contrasted very nicely with her dress.

Naruto got a table by the window, and he saw the younger man stand up nervously. He waved to Sakura, who walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Kakashi could see the blush from his vantage point; the boy then hurried to pull out a seat for Sakura. Nice.

He had a niggling feeling that something had changed, as he watched his two former students launch into animated conversation. He felt oddly left out.

A twinge of...something, went off in Kakashi's chest. He watched their animated faces a beat longer before turning away. Heartburn, most likely. Must've been all that ramen, he thought dismissively. He turned to walk slowly back to his own home, and for some reason, the thought of reading Icha Icha was not as appealing as it had been this morning.


	3. Begin Again

**Begin Again**  
_You throw your head back laughing like a little kid_  
_I think it's strange that you think I'm funny, 'cause he never did_

* * *

Sakura Haruno made Naruto Uzumaki nervous.

This wasn't a particularly shocking revelation to himself. He had, after all, loved the girl practically on first sight when they were both just tiny children. It's just that, at this very moment, he felt that nervousness seemed to expand a hundred times more than it usually was.

To be perfectly honest, he felt a little stupid, sitting here in this fancy restaurant where he felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb. It was really, really fancy, and although money was not an issue after that S-class mission that paid them handsomely, the sight of all these well-heeled people made him feel, well, nervous.

But no matter. He'd make this date as nice as possible for Sakura.

He reviewed the events that led up to this monumental date. He'd been thinking about her a lot, when he and Jiraiya went to retrieve some precious artifact that the Sand Village had lost, which would settle some kind of territorial dispute. They got entangled with a bunch of bandits and while they put them away pretty quickly in their usual awesome fashion, it was slightly less awesome when he thought about how much he missed Sakura. All that violence probably triggered it. So when they got back home, the first place he went to was not Ichiraku (which was his usual habit), but straight home, where he stared at a wall for four hours, just thinking about Sakura.

Finally, he stood up and went to Ino's, who was luckily home at that time, arranging some flowers for the shop. Granted, Ino wasn't one of his favorite people, but she was Sakura's closest friend who was a girl.

"A date?" He didn't really understand why she seemed so shocked. Ino knew very well that he probably asked Sakura out every five minutes whenever Sakura was around. "Did something happen to you or something?"

It was a question he'd get a lot days leading up to the date. They all lived under the constant threat of dying young, so why not live for today? "Err...nothing. I just wanted to ask you how I can ask Sakura out on a date."

Ino shrugged as she tended to her flower arrangement. "Tell her that her forehead's the perfect size? She'd be flattered and date you immediately."

"Ino..." he began warningly.

"So you're serious this time, huh?"

"Wh-what do you mean? I'm ALWAYS serious when I ask her out!" Naruto said, exasperated. If he wasn't so desperate to get some advice, he'd probably have left then. It was bad enough that he had to approach Ino in the first place.

"Well when you always YELL it like that, something gets lost in translation!" Ino shot back, irritated. She pushed her blonde hair out of the way, and sighed. "Look, there's no secret code to asking a girl out. Just approach her calmly-you do know what a calm approach is, don't you?"

He felt annoyed again. Did Ino think he was an idiot? He was starting to regret coming to her at all. "I'm a JOUNIN already!"

"THAT is not calm!"

Naruto simply glared at her. "Well, do you want my help or not?" Ino asked testily. He pouted a little, but nodded. Ino seemed satisfied and continued, "Just approach her when she's relaxed and happy-and she will be once she sees you again. And then in your indoors voice, ask, 'Sakura-chan, will you do me the honor of fulfilling my ultimate dream of going out with you?'"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "That's not what I should say!"

"No, probably not." she shrugged, but continued. "No flailing around, no running around, no freaking out when she says yes to your asking her. Fix your schedules. Show up earlier than her. Go to a nice restaurant, pay for everything, and dress nice. Girls like that you put an effort."

Naruto brightened and suddenly rushed up to Ino and hugged her tightly. "Thanks Ino-chan! You're the best."

"Ugh, get off me." Ino said, but without a real bite behind her words. She ruffled Naruto's hair. "Only a stupid guy like you would need help in basic stuff like that."

What he really wanted to do was to rush to the hospital where Sakura was doing some work as a medic-nin but remembered Ino's advice to look nice. He detoured back to his apartment to take a bath and comb his hair quickly before rushing back out again.

He was going to ask Sakura out.

_He was going to ask Sakura out!_

It took all his self-control not to jump to the rooftops to go see her as soon as possible. Instead he navigated through the streets with a silly grin on his face. He began to jog just to expend a bit of his nervous energy.

He must have run faster than he thought, because he suddenly found himself in Konoha Hospital, just in time to see Sakura descend from the steps. She was wearing her casual clothing, and had a tired look on her face. But the tired face disappeared when she saw Naruto waiting for her.

"Naruto!" she took one leap to bypass the rest of the stairs and fell into his open arms; the two laughed and twirled together, just happy to be reunited. It was a perfect moment, and he didn't want it to end.

She finally broke from their hug. "When did you come back? I was so worried!"

"Didn't have time to write, sorry." he replied sheepishly. Truthfully, he could've arrived earlier if Jiraiya didn't sneak in all those surprise book signings on the way back, but Sakura didn't need to know that.

They walked together arm-in-arm. "I'm so jealous." she said wistfully. "I haven't seen field action in months. I'm glad you're ok, though."

"Me too." he said. "What have you been up to?" his heart pounded uncontrollably, and he hoped to whatever god out there that she wouldn't hear it.

"Me? Just training a bunch of genin punks some basics on emergency aid. Boring but necessary stuff. I understand what Tsunade-sama's going through now. I swear they get worse and worse every year. They think being a medic-nin is lame."

"You're not lame, Sakura-chan." Naruto said earnestly, which earned him a warm smile. "Medic-nins are so brave. I mean..." he began to stutter when she kept her eyes trained on him. "We all should look out for each other, but you guys take it a step further by attending to the wounded, even in the middle of the fight."

"Naruto-chan makes it sound so cool." Sakura breathed.

"But it IS cool!" he protested.

"I know. I was just teasing."

She just looked so cute then that Naruto couldn't hold it back any longer. He suddenly stopped walking, which earned him a quizzical look from the pink-haired shinobi.

"Sakura-chan..."

"Naruto..." she looked slightly concerned. "Are you ok?"

He faced her squarely. "Please go out with me."

He didn't mean to sound so abrupt. She reddened visibly then up to the roots of her hair, but he took it as a good sign that she didn't punch him or push him away. She just gaped at him for a good five minutes, looked away, then looked back at him. She didn't even have to ask him if he was serious. He was pretty sure it was written all over his face.

It was an even better sign that she didn't laugh.

Instead, she smiled and reached up to rub some dirt off Naruto's cheek, which sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't even hear her clearly then, the blood was pounding too hard in his ears. "Sure, Naruto."

She probably noticed the stunned look on his face, because she took his arm again and began to lead him forward. He didn't even remember how he got home or how he managed to agree when to meet for the date. It just happened all too quickly.

And now here he was, sitting in a restaurant which required eating food using three different forks, waiting for his date. His date, Sakura. He pulled nervously at his collar. Maybe the location was a bit too formal? Maybe Sakura would've preferred somewhere more low-key? The longer he waited, the more he doubted.

Maybe she was just joking when she said yes? This thought was even more troubling, and Naruto was just about break into cold sweat when Sakura stepped into the restaurant.

The sight of her made him stand up too quickly, jostling the table in the process. He just about managed to keep it from completely tipping over, cursing his clumsiness. Fortunately, Sakura tactfully ignored it and approached him with a smile on her face.

"Naruto, I almost didn't recognize you!" she exclaimed in surprise. He grinned and pulled at his collar. Truthfully, he itched in this suit, but Ino said to put an effort, so he put an effort. He leaned in to kiss her cheek in greeting, got embarrassed, and withdrew before he even got near her face. She surprised him when she leaned to him and kissed his cheek, successful where he had been bashful. Not knowing what quite to do, Naruto hurried to pull out a chair for her, which she took with a grateful nod of thanks.

He settled opposite her. "You look beautiful, Sakura." he complimented, and he meant it. Sakura had swept her signature pink hair up, and her skin practically glowed in the soft lighting of the restaurant. She was wearing a green dress that very nearly matched her eyes. She was a babe. And she was on a date with him! He couldn't help but puff up a bit with pride.

They made short work of ordering their food. Once the waiter left, Sakura rested her chin on her hands and fixed an unnervingly direct gaze at Naruto. "So, what brought this on?"

Yikes. He'd hoped that they would just ignore the big elephant in the room and take the date as it was: a date. But then again, Sakura had been a more direct person in recent years, always cutting to the heart of the matter. Probably as a result of the things she'd been through, probably because of the no-nonsense attitude her chosen profession demanded.

"Well, it's a long story..." he began.

"We have time." she reassured him in such a nice, soft voice that he felt his ears go pink. It was her 'friendly bedside manner' Sakura voice. Then the thought of Sakura and beds made his ears even warmer.

"Well, it's really because of Jiraiya..."

"J-Jiraiya..?!" her voice wasn't so nice and soft now.

Oh shit. "Well, no, not really, more because he's writing the next Icha Icha..." One look at Sakura and he immediately regretted his words. Her ears were red now, but not exactly in a good way.

"Icha...Icha..." she echoed slowly.

"It's not like that!" he held out his hands as if to placate her. _Although it kinda is? _"On our way back, Jiraiya was also making a plot outline for the next book. You know how he is, he's a multitasker." And it was true. He was Hokage one day, and then writer the next, and then just a shinobi carrying out missions like the rest of them the following week. And a pervert. Always, always a pervert.

Sakura nodded, dubious.

"Anyway, for some reason he wanted to run some ideas by me. There was this subplot about a soldier and a girl he'd left behind in a village. The soldier was in a bind because there was this big showdown that was coming up, and he had made a promise to the girl that on her birthday he would...ahhh.." he tried to look for a more discreet term for _devirginizing. _"He would give her a gift."

Sakura raised one delicate eyebrow. "So the soldier was going to abandon his teammates to...give her a gift."

"Yeah. Jiraiya said, 'Naruto, I need your help on this because I am really regretting I even added this stupid subplot.'" Sakura giggled at Naruto's imitation of the fourth Hokage. "'Naruto, I am not that young anymore and to be honest, if I were him I'd go back to that cute girl in the village. I need some perspective!'"

"I probably took his request a lot more seriously than I should've. But I thought about it a lot, and then decided that the best thing would be to stay and fight."

"And you told Jiraiya this?"

"Yeah. He didn't even question it. He killed the soldier off during the showdown, so now it's one of the bigger downers and spoilers in Icha Icha." It's weird how guilty he felt about having had a hand in the death of a fictional character.

"Better not let Kakashi on about that development," Sakura commented drily.

Naruto made a sound of assent at her suggestion and didn't say more.

"So..." Sakura had a puzzled look on her face. "That's it? Jiraiya asked you if he could off a random soldier in his pervy story and that made you think of me?"

"Well..." he had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "Yes." It had made sense in his head earlier, swear, and he had a big speech about how life should be made for the living, seize the day and all that, but for some reason it had all but escaped him completely.

Sakura stared at him for a second and then slowly began guffawing. It was infectious, and soon Naruto found himself laughing along too, so much so that they both had tears in their eyes when the laughter finally subsided.

"I'm touched, Naruto, really, that you can find me in even the smallest things." she was wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. He was relieved that she wasn't mad about it, and even found it highly amusing.

"Sure I do! I always see you in everything." it was his turn to tease her now.

"Yeah, like what?"

He pointed to their appetizer. "Edamame. Color of your eyes."

She laughed, and held up a fork. She liked this game. "Fork tines. Reminds me of your stupid hair."

He pointed to the pink roses at the centre of their table. "Your hair." It was a lot more complimentary than a fork, and he felt pleased when he saw her blush.

She pointed to the tiny ladybug crawling on the roses. "An annoying bug."

Naruto laughed. "A bug I would like to flick off sometimes," she added, as she gave him a kick under the table, and pretended to be annoyed.

Whatever awkwardness that was there earlier in the evening dissipated immediately, and the two found themselves catching up and trading stories. They were only alerted to the lateness of the hour when the waiter leaned over and very pointedly asked if they would like the bill with their coffee. He paid (a rather shocking amount of money) and exited the restaurant, still chatting amiably. He had loosened his tie, and Sakura shook her pink tresses loose.

"Your dress is really pretty," he commented, pinching the skirt between thumb and forefinger.

"Kakashi chose this dress for me, actually." Sakura frowned at the recollection. "Had he always been such a weirdo? He was at the dress shop for no discernible reason other than to torture me."

Naruto shrugged lazily, although he had to admit to himself that it was a strange thing for Kakashi to do. He liked to read porn, sure, but other than that he wasn't the type to bestir himself and nose about too much, even less follow women into garment shops. But then again, this was Sakura, not some random woman. "That is kind of weird of him, but he hasn't seen us in a while. You know how he's like sometimes."

She exhaled in exasperation. "I guess. But maybe you understand him better than I do."

"We should get the old team back together again." Naruto suggested, but immediately regretted it because of course, it redirected their thoughts to Sasuke, that old absence.

"That's a good idea." she demurred, but didn't say more. He sensed that she wanted to bring up Sasuke, but decided against it.

They had finally arrived at her apartment building. Naruto felt the apprehension building up in him again. Up to now, he kind of forgot that he was on a date, he had fallen into catching up with Sakura so easily. And how they were at her front steps, and it was like he was walking on water and forgot how to control his chakra.

"Well." Sakura was fidgeting as well. "This is me." she gave an embarrassed cough. "I had a great time, Naruto."

He couldn't help but be surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah, really."

Naruto thought how much he would like to kiss her right there and then. Why not? She didn't seem too sad about Sasuke anymore, and she was single, and it wasn't like when they were twelve years old and she towered over and terrorized him. The Sakura who stood in front of him was slightly battle-weary and wiser, but he loved her all the more for it. But then there was something in her eyes that made him hold back.

So instead he gently pulled her into his arms and hugged her. She automatically embraced him too. Then he didn't resist giving her a peck in the cheek, which he wasn't able to do earlier. "I had fun too." he said, paused, then went on, "We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah." She smiled brightly, and really, he wanted to kiss her right there and then again. Instead he let her go with a grin and a wave. He felt strangely unsatisfied, like he had missed a step, but brushed it off. He watched her climb up the stairs to her apartment, and left when he saw her lights go on.

He'd known her for six years, but Sakura Haruno still made Naruto Uzumaki nervous. And confused. He pondered on the evening as he slowly made his way home.

* * *

**A/N: I didn't predict how NaruSaku this would be. But I do love them together, and pretty happy that canon seems to be turning that way. But this is still a KakaSaku fic, promise!**

**Reviews are very welcome!**


	4. I Found a Boy

**I Found a Boy**

_I told you, he'd be home soon. _

* * *

Sakura was dreaming.

She had been running through the darkened streets of Konoha looking for something. Something bad was going to happen, someone was leaving and she had to stop that. She always almost made it in time, but the departing person's back would be already too far off when she arrived at the gates. She couldn't follow that person out of the gates, and it had made her incredibly sad. Before she could cry out a name, Sakura found herself suddenly awake and strangely regretful.

She didn't stay that way long, and she had a schedule to follow. Her morning ritual rarely varied: She usually allowed herself a few minutes to realign herself back to reality before hauling herself off the bed. She'd fix herself breakfast, washed her plates, fixed her bed, and got ready for the day. She did all this in perfect silence, and she was grateful that she had this time all to herself to go through the day's schedule, or at least to clear her head of bad dreams.

That day's schedule was to go to the hospital to continue her research on a project she and Tsunade had started only a few months ago. Tsunade had approached her with the idea of using chakra threads as a medical tool, and although Sakura had initially balked at the suggestion, she had to admit that it had some merit and deserved further studies. And, as the two of them had the best chakra control in Konoha with the medical background, it had become something of a pet project.

It was a crisp spring morning at the Konoha Hospital. As per usual, the hospital staff greeted her as she passed by, already a regular feature on the grounds. She quickly changed out of her clothes and into her hospital uniform, tying back her hair with an elastic band. She lacked sleep, and looked it, but Sakura found it hard to really be bothered by it. When working in a hospital, vanity in one's looks was usually one of the first things to go.

After making her rounds around the hospital, Sakura quickly walked back to her office. It was small and spare, but it had a nice view of the gardens. However, due to her current project, it was now nearly full with ancient scrolls and books, anything that could shed further light on the manipulation of chakra threads.

With a small sigh, she decided to go over Kankuro's letters to her, not quite up to the task of studying the huge tomes on the floor just yet. The shinobi from Sunagakure had been quite helpful in describing the manipulation of chakra threads, but voiced some doubt in its medical capabilities. Sakura couldn't blame him-based on the research so far, chakra threads were invented with the aim of using it in battle to manipulate both humans and puppets alike. But that meant some sort of muscle control, and possibly, Sakura theorized, a more localized version of the technique could be used with a more refined use of the threads. She could massage a heart without having to cut the chest open, she could force the lungs to breathe, and another possibility was to use threads to hold together badly-ripped skin caused by special kunai that ensured wounds remained open, even with traditional treatment.

Sakura had just begun to write a reply to Kankuro when the door to her office burst open. It was Aiko, one of the newer nurses, and she looked alarmed. "Sakura-senpai," the younger girl began. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but..."

Sakura was already on her feet, and gestured Aiko to follow her. If she had been summoned, it could only mean one thing: injured shinobi. "How bad is it?"

"A whole squad of them." Aiko had to break into a small jog to keep up with her. "Only there are a few who are seriously hurt, though, and the squad leader asked specifically for you."

"Who's in command?" she asked, but Aiko's reply was drowned out as they burst in the ER in chaos. Several shinobi were already being carted away, most of them crying loudly in agony and pain. She tried not to wince; the sound of grown men crying was something she hadn't gotten used to yet. She swept an eye over them, and headed straight to one shinobi who had been labelled with a red triage tag. The red-haired man's eyes were glazed, staring into nowhere, but clearly still hung on. He was bleeding profusely from a massive chest wound, dark and jarring.

"What do we have?" she barked as she assisted the other medic-nins into wheeling the boy down the hallways towards the operating room.

"Fifteen-year-old male, penetrating trauma from an unidentified weapon," the medic-nin promptly replied as Sakura checked on the boy's vitals, first with the traditional tools and next with her chakra to feel the depth of the wound, where she confirmed that blood was rushing in the boy's pericardial cavity.

"We'll have to perform a thoracotomy," she announced before she rushed back out of the operating room to quickly prepare for surgery. As the doors swung closed behind her, she practically ran into the chest of another shinobi.

"Kakashi-sensei," she said in surprise. He didn't seem to hear her as he stared at the genin in the operating room, unmoving. "Sensei," she repeated, louder. "You can't stay here." When he still didn't reply, she placed one palm squarely on his chest and tried to push him out. He resisted with an angry glare.

She looked at him straight in the eye. "You can't help him now, and you've got to let me do my job." Sakura said forcefully. "You have to leave now!" She gave a final push with her superior strength, and didn't even blink to see him stumble backward.

When she finally resurfaced from the surgery, Sakura was surprised that it was already dusk outside. She made short work of stripping off her blood stained surgical robes and shucking them in the trash before slipping out of the surgery prep room.

The operation had been a success, but the boy would still need to be closely monitored. Sakura navigated through the hallways as she made her way through to the waiting room. She didn't expect the boy's parents to be there-family and next of kin were only informed of death and never injuries-but she did expect the squad leader to be in their place.

But the staff at the nurse's station told her that Kakashi had left hours ago.

She tried looking for him all throughout the hospital, every room and even every closet, but eventually gave up. She even scanned the grounds for his chakra signature. Defeated, she found that she didn't have much energy to continue her research anymore, and called it a day.

Thirty minutes later, she found the very man she was looking sitting at her kitchen, obscured in darkness and staring blankly at nothing.

Sakura reached out and switched the lights on. "Sensei…" Nothing. She set her keys down, followed by her bag. She approached him carefully, as one would approach a wounded animal who might strike at any time.

"Sensei."

Still nothing.

She finally reached him, and she touched his arm lightly. "Kakashi-sensei…the surgery was a success. Taka-san is going to make it."

The words seemed to rouse him a bit, but it didn't change the dejected way he was slumped over her kitchen table. He tiredly rubbed one hand over his face, and she couldn't help but notice a few more wrinkles etched on what she could see of his face. This was the first time that Sakura saw him as someone very much older than her, and that he had probably seen too much of the world.

Feeling that she was seeing too much, she made a move to stand up. "I'll make us some tea…" but she was interrupted by Kakashi holding her wrist.

"Just sit with me for a while," he said. "Please."

She nodded and sat down again. To be honest, she didn't know what to do. She had seen Kakashi in this state only a few times in the years that she'd known him, but there was always someone…someone else to talk him out of it. It had never been her, and if she was being even more honest, he had never needed her like that.

But right now, there was only her, and she wasn't going to leave him in the darkness.

Haltingly, she began talking to him about her research. It was awkward at first, and she really didn't know what else to say, but later she began to describe the steps she wanted to take to verify some theories she had about chakra threads. It was dull, and she was embarrassed to sound so bookish, but she plunged on. Kakashi never interrupted and listened to her the whole time, his hand over hers like a lifeline.

Finally, she said: "I'm sorry if I'm boring you, sensei."

He replied by squeezing her hand and giving her the faintest of smiles.

It was a small thing, but it was a start.

* * *

**A/N: Five words- Thank God for Grey's Anatomy. **

**Thank you to everyone's who's reviewed/favorited and followed so far. **


	5. Sweet Baby

**Sweet Baby**

_Sweet sweet baby_  
_Life is crazy_

* * *

One of the unwritten hazards of being Tsunade's apprentice was to act as unwilling guinea pig to what she and Shizune had dubbed, "vanity jutsus".

While Sakura had managed to avoid the worst of them (kyokusen no jutsu being the most recent in memory), it was really only a matter of time before Tsunade would be itching to try another way towards cosmetic perfection through jutsus.

It was her fault, really. Tsunade had been looking especially haggard that week, and Sakura had absent-mindedly commented upon her crow's feet. This caused the Hokage to hurry for the nearest mirror, shriek, and then obsess about her pet projects once again. For the next few weeks, it would not be strange to see random people of Tsunade's acquaintance walking around with weirdly-stretched faces, as if someone had pulled their faces and had gotten it stuck. Tsunade had despaired but instead of giving up on it altogether, decided to go another route.

"Stretching it just won't do it," Tsunade muttered to herself. "Getting rid of wrinkles isn't just about stretching! It's the fat under your skin that keeps the skin elastic in the most natural way possible."

Sakura fidgeted in the Hokage's office, not even bothering to hide her longing looks towards the door.

"Do you know what that means, Sakura?"

Sakura gave her mentor a pleading look. "G-get botox, like everyone else?"

Tsunade gave a grumpy snort. "Turn back the wheels of time, and not just as an illusion! Sakura, this is an amazing contribution to the world! We can give back people two, three years of their physical strength back! It's not permanent, but it's worth giving a try, isn't it?" she looked positively manic as she said this.

The pink-haired kunoichi had to agree. The experiment had its merits. Somewhat. Oh, who was she kidding? She squeezed her eyes shut. "Just do your best, Tsunade-sama." she requested.

"Will do." Tsunade was now going through a series of quick hand motions. Here goes nothing. "Youth no jutsu!"

But as soon as the Hokage slammed one palm on the floor, who else had the bad luck of stepping in the office through the window?

Hatake Kakashi, that was who, smiling and in mid-jump when he intercepted the still-imperfect unnamed jutsu.

The Copy Nin disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a bang. The two women stared at the space he had been in shock.

Eventually, they heard a coughing sound somewhere in the cloud of smoke. It slowly dissolved to reveal...a baby.

A baby that had silver hair and a Sharingan.

"What...the...hell." Sakura swiveled to her mentor. "What happened?!"

Tsunade had the grace to look embarrassed. "Got a little overeager, I guess?"

"Overeager?! It's a good thing you didn't go overboard and turned him into a fetus!" she rushed towards her now-tiny former sensei, who was blinking sleepily at his surroundings. His clothes were draped on his head, and Sakura quickly made sure that he wasn't hurt by the sharp pointy things Kakashi surely had on his person. "What are we going to do, Tsunade-sama?!"

The older woman shrugged, suspiciously unconcerned. "Wait it off. It's better than me trying to interrupt it, as it's still highly unstable experimental jutsu."

Kakashi still remained unperturbed, although he was now naked as the day he was born. "I'm a baby." he announced, still weirdly calm and laid-back.

"Yes you are, Kakashi!" Tsunade confirmed in a suspiciously cooing voice. "But don't worry, it's not permanent. You'll have one or two days, and he'll be back to normal."

"Hmm. Ok!" Kakashi turned to Sakura and held out two chubby arms. "Cawwy!" he demanded. He didn't seem to mind that he was naked.

Sakura looked helplessly from the baby to Tsunade. "I don't..."

"He's still thinking as an adult, but I'm afraid due to his physiology, he'll have the emotional intelligence of, well, a baby." Tsunade shrugged. "He'll cry if he doesn't get what he wants, he'll poop whenever he feels like it, he'll pee..."

"Ok, ok, I get it." Sakura said irritably, a rare show of temper towards her mentor. "What are we going to do now?"

"Me? He's your teacher!"

"It's your experiment! You can't seriously..."

Meanwhile, Kakashi was waving his little arms again. "CAWWY!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine!" She hoisted the baby in her arms, where he reached out and patted a breast. "Hey, watch it kid!"

Her sharp tone made Kakashi freeze mid-pat, which quickly dissolved to teary eyes, which devolved into a full-out wail. "UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Oh for godsakes, Sakura, he was just hungry!"

"-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?!"

"-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Just get out of here!" and with that, Sakura and Kakashi were kicked out of the Hokage Tower. Sakura stared at the shut doors, suddenly feeling like a woman in those stories who got kicked out due to an unwanted baby.

Well, this baby was definitely unwanted.

"Happy now, twerp?" she muttered to a sniffling Kakashi. The baby looked at her out of one eye, watery and sad.

"I'm sowwy Sakuwa-chan..." the sight of a very regretful baby was too much. Who could resist it? Sakura bounced him on one arm.

"Don't worry about it." she said, her tone softer. She touched his closed eyelid gently. "Sensei, just keep this one closed okay? You're too small to activate a Sharingan in this state."

"I know." the way he said it sounded so much like the grown-up Kakashi that Sakura had to laugh.

"Okay, then." she remembered Tsunade's warning about babies pooping anywhere they wanted. "Let's go find you some clothes." She had wrapped the baby in Kakashi's shirt, but he couldn't have been comfortable in that.

Sakura had browsed many of the shops in Konoha before, but the baby store was definitely not one of those. She opened the door with one hand, bumping against the bells that hung above it.

"Good morning, ma'am!" a pleasant-faced saleslady came forward. "How can I help you?"

Sakura shifted uneasily while baby Kakashi glared at the stranger. She felt self-conscious that strangers would think of her as a teenage mother. "I'm looking for clothes."

"You came in the right place! Come on in."

At sixteen, Sakura hadn't really thought about becoming a mother. But something about baby specialty stores seemed to make her giddy about babies, right out of nowhere. They were surrounded by a number of onesies, bibs, bonnets and mittens of every size, shape and color. In no time at all she was cooing over everything, much to baby Kakashi's annoyance. She held up pair of pyjamas decorated with tiny shurikens. "This looks more like your style, doesn't it?"

"I guess," Kakashi replied with a big yawn. It was a good thing that the store, as a novelty, carried mini-versions of shinobi costumes, down to the sandals. Sakura also made sure to buy diapers, baby bottles, and baby wash. It wouldn't be so bad to bathe him wouldn't it? He was in baby form after all, and it wasn't like he had a choice.

"By the way," she added. "You don't happen to have a pirate costume for my Kaka-chan here, don't you?" Kakashi glared at her calling him Kaka-chan, but she thought he could suck it. Her money was down the drain buying him his stuff.

"Yes, of course!" Sakura was glad to see an eyepatch in the costume set. She trusted Kakashi to heed her advice, but she needed to take precaution. When the girl rang up their purchases, she reached out to lightly pinch Kakashi's cheek.

"He's a very cute baby, isn't he!"

Sakura didn't want to look. She HAD wanted to take a peek at Kakashi's unmasked face for the longest time, but for some reason this felt like cheating. But, she reasoned, it would be weird to have an unimpressed mother-the baby was scarred, and even though so far people hadn't asked about it, she didn't want them to suspect anything more amiss. She had to take a look.

And Sakura's heart instantly melted.

Cherubic wasn't even a good enough word to describe how cute Kakashi as baby was. Kakashi squirmed, conscious of her attention. He had the long, fine silver hair that still stuck out, rosy cheeks, rosy lips, dimples, and a pretty slate eye that looked at her with intelligence. He was perfect.

"Yes, he's very cute!" Unable to help herself, she pressed a kiss on one chubby, dimpled cheek. "Takes after his father, this one." she laughed.

"Diaper room is that way," the saleslady helpfully supplied.

Kakashi kept a dignified silence in the changing room as Sakura strapped on diapers and put on his clothes. She did the diapers with eyes closed, but it still made Kakashi embarrassed, "I wanna die," he finally said.

"So pessimistic for one so young!" Sakura quipped.

"Don't let people pinch my cheeks again." he raised a tiny hand to rub the offended cheek. "I'll cwy."

"Alright." she carefully strapped the eyepatch over his Sharingan.

"Itchy," Kakashi groused. Sakura laughed and leaned in to kiss him again. It would be weird not to kiss a baby, she thought, especially not a baby as cute as this one. Anyway, he didn't seem to mind.

"Sakuwa," he said solemnly, now wearing a t-shirt that read NEXT HOKAGE. "I'm weally hungwy."

They went straight to Sakura's apartment afterwards after a quick stop at a mini-grocery for baby's formula. She didn't have a crib, but put him on a futon, and she made sure she kept all her weapons away from his reach. Kakashi might be too tempted to reach up for them, having nil self control now that he was a baby. The kitchen was viewable from her bedroom, and she could feel his calculated (if tiny) gaze across the room. She made short work of boiling the bottles, measuring out the water and milk, and shaking it all together, testing the milk's temperature on the back of her hand before finally feeding him.

She sat on her bed and pulled Kakashi on her lap. She could already feel him wondering how she even knew how to take care of babies; he'd probably forgotten that she was working in a hospital in addition to being Tsunade's apprentice. His gaze was unnerving, even though it was undermined by the baby bottle in his mouth.

"You have to sleep now, Kaka-chan." she said, stroking his cheek lightly with one finger. He didn't respond, and just kept looking at her with that sleepy eye of his. "You had a long day today."

He removed the bottle from his mouth. "Don't wanna."

Still insubordinate, even now as a baby. With a sigh, she stood up and began rocking him in her arms, singing a lullaby her mother used to sing to her.

_Sweet baby_  
_Sleepy baby_  
_Shut your eyes and sleep_  
_I'll wake you with a kiss_

And soon, despite himself, Kakashi was fast asleep.

Sakura had finally settled the small jounin on her bed-flanked with two pillows-on each side. She sighed heavily, not still quite believing how crazy this day had been. Her stomach growled in protest. Being a baby caretaker was a lot of work!

She was in the middle of cooking dinner when there was a knock on her door. "Hey, Forehead, open up!" Ino called from the other side.

Shit. She glanced at Kakashi, who was still sleeping peacefully on her bed. She hadn't exactly planned to take Kakashi out in the open, as she had a feeling that it would be too humiliating for his peers to find out what happened to him. "Uhhh...I'm a little busy right now, Pig." she responded.

"Yeah right. Come oooon, let's go out! You promised! You're just cooking pasta, it's not exactly rocket science." Ino scoffed as she let herself in with a bang on the door. Sakura looked at Kakashi again and breathed a sigh of relief when he kept on sleeping.

But the glance didn't escape Ino. "What's that on your bed?" she asked, deceptively sweet.

"Nothing! Just leave it alone, Ino!"

But there was no stopping Ino's stubbornness. Sakura tried to hold her back, but she couldn't lest she engaged Ino in a full-on fight. Ino threw her off and stalked towards the bed. Sakura still got there sooner and quickly scooped the baby off the bed.

"Oh...my...GOD." Sakura had been quick, but not quick enough to hide the baby's face.

"I can explain..." Sakura began.

Ino stared at her in disbelief. "YOU HAD KAKASHI'S BABY?!"

"..."

"..."

"I did not have Kakashi's baby!" Sakura yelled back, after a moment of shocked silence. Kakashi stirred in her arms. "Are you totally crazy!?"

"Oh my god." Ino's eyes were as wide as saucers. "It was last year ago, wasn't it?! You were totally fat last year!"

"INO!"

"Except you weren't fat, you were just pregnant!"

Mother of...Ino could really be dense sometimes. She felt Kakashi's small arms tighten around her neck, clearly a little frightened by all the shouting. "Stop it, Ino just stop it! You're frightening the baby!"

"I could kill that asshole!" Ino made a fist, her anger leaving Sakura strangely touched. "He did that to you and just left you with his spawn?! The nerve of that guy! Is that why I haven't seen you for the longest time?!"

"Ino." Sakura laid a placating arm on her best friend. "I can't explain right now, but it's not what you think. I can't tell you whose baby this is, but trust me when I say, this is definitely not my child with Kakashi, not my kid at all." she just wanted to die right there, knowing that Kakashi was listening to everything they said. "I mean, I'm sure the future mother of his children would be very lucky, but I'm not her." she added for good measure.

Ino looked confused but, to Sakura's relief, accepted it. They all did live unusual lives, after all. Sakura could probably sell it as a weird kind of C-class mission later on if anyone asked. She knew Ino would talk to all their friends about it.

Ino sighed heavily as she stared at the silver-haired baby's head. "Looks like Kakashi though. Down to the eyepatch."

"Eye infection, poor thing." Sakura murmured. She began to shoo Ino out. "Look, I'll make it up to you next time okay? I promise. I'll pay for the night out and everything."

This brightened Ino up considerably. "Okay, but you better come through."

"I will."

With Ino safely out of the apartment, Sakura shifted Kakashi in her arms. Did he ever change his expression? "Sorry about that," she said. "Ino's just being...Ino."

Kakashi didn't look amused. "You have weird friends."

"You're one to talk." she set him down on the futon. "I've got to get back to the pasta. Stay here. Hot stoves and babies don't mix." she planted another kiss on his forehead, and she saw him blink in surprise.

_Sorry. You're just too cute, kid._

She walked back to her bedroom with her dinner in one hand, to keep Kakashi company. She plucked something from her cabinet and waved it in front of her tiny guest.

"Here Kakashi-sensei, you can have this for a while." it was a slightly worn stuffed panda. "His name is Usagi-chan."

He looked at her like she was an idiot. "But it's a panda." he said plaintively.

She shrugged. "And you're supposed to be an old dude," she said breezily as she sat down to eat her dinner.

Kakashi looked annoyed. So cute. "I'm not old!"

To her sixteen, Kakashi's thirty years of age was ancient, but Sakura didn't want to say it aloud. "Fine, you're supposed to be an adult."

Despite Kakashi's claimed disdain for Usagi-chan, he was soon tugging and teething on the toy. Tsunade wasn't kidding about that emotional intelligence thing. She set aside her plate and plucked Usagi-chan, and pretended that it was swooping down to bite Kakashi. He giggled delightedly despite himself.

After an hour of tickling and playing catch-your-toe, Kakashi had finally worn himself out. He was snuggled against Usagi-chan and clutching Sakura's shirt. She smoothed back his silvery hair and stroked his soft cheek, as she hummed softly to him.

"Sakuwa..."

"Hmm?"

He turned to look at her. "You'd...you'd make a good mommy."

She smiled gently. "Awww. Thanks, sensei."

"I mean it."

"I know." it was crazy, but she would miss Kakashi in this form. Tomorrow, he'd probably be back to normal. Or at least she hoped so. In any case, it was nice to be the one taking care of him for a change. "You better go to sleep now. You might change back during the night; I got some clothes in your adult size on the sofa."

He nodded. "Okay."

She was supposed to retire to her own bed, but the day's events made her very tired. In no time, both she and Kakashi had fallen fast asleep.

* * *

Kakashi woke up in the middle of the night, naked as the day he was born. Next to him, Sakura slept peacefully on. Careful not to wake her, Kakashi swiftly changed into the clothes Sakura had wisely prepared for him in advance.

He fixed his mask on and looked at the sleeping girl's form. He smiled and gently hoisted her off the futon and deposited her on her bed. He tucked in Usagi-chan next to her and drew the blanket over her shoulders. Sakura muttered sleepily but stayed asleep.

He smoothed back fine pink hair and tucked it behind her ear. "Goodnight, Sakura-chan," he whispered.

And then he was gone.

* * *

And that was the story how Kakashi learned his 1001st jutsu, the Baby no Jutsu.

* * *

**A/N:** I know. I know. The whole "adult turns into a baby and shenanigans happen" is an overused trope (it's a subset of Fountain of Youth) but I couldn't help myself. Baby!Kakashi is just a mental image I couldn't resist I guess.

Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my new chapter. Review it maybe?


	6. Undertow

**Undertow**  
_Silly me, look what I did again_  
_I found what I want is what I cannot have_

* * *

"Naruto, don't fidget."

"I'm not fidgeting!"

"Yes you are. Look, Sai got his bowtie on in under a minute. If you'd just stop moving, we'd have finished this ages ago."

Naruto gave Sai an annoyed look, as if this was all his fault. Sakura was still trying to tie Naruto's bowtie, face creased in concentration as the yellow-haired ninja tried to stay still. All three were standing in Sakura's apartment, all dressed their best. This was, after all, Sakura's evening, and the new Team 7 wouldn't miss it for the world.

Sakura was going to receive a special award for her research on chakra threads. The five countries were all anxious to put most of their hostilities (superficially, at the very least) behind them, starting with the unified effort to make use of skills usually reserved for ninja towards healing and progress. The chakra threads research, Sakura had confided, while still missing a lot more information, was a good banner where the countries could rally in. She was still unsatisfied with it, and thought she didn't deserve the recognition, but Sai believed otherwise.

He had never met a jounin who was so dedicated in her work both as a medic-nin and a ninja. A true workhorse, Sakura had managed to keep a balance between keeping her brains and body active and sharp. Being the apprentice of the Hokage usually meant that she got an informal right of first refusal to plum missions, and on days off focused on her medical career. During the early days of their acquaintance, Sai hadn't thought that Sakura would earn his affection and respect, but here they were. He felt that unnamed warm feeling in his chest as he watched his two friends gently bicker back and forth over Naruto's bowtie.

Sai looked at his watch. Kakashi-senpai wasn't here yet. Typical. He wandered over to Sakura's bedroom, and noticed a large corkboard pinned on the wall. Interesting. He stepped over for a closer look.

It was filled with pictures of people Sakura had known in her young life. Sakura as a toddler was flanked by a pink-haired man and a light-haired woman, obviously her parents, but he was surprised to know that she was an only child. Pictures of Sakura with girls her age that he wasn't familiar with were probably her childhood friends who were civilians. Then there were a couple of Sakura and Ino, the newest one taken at some kind of club, with both girls obviously inebriated but grinning at the camera. Here was a picture of a very young Sasuke and Sakura, and Sasuke's face looked worn, as if someone had thumbed over the print many, many times. There were the girl friends (Hinata, Tenten, Ino, Sakura), the nurses and staff at the hospital, Tsunade, her classmates from the Academy, and a sketch of the re-formed Team 7 drawn in Sai's hand. A picture prominently featured was of her and Naruto, caught mid-eating of ramen and looking disgruntled, they looked around fourteen years old, before he had met them. There was even a candid picture of her and himself, horsing around in the training grounds. She probably liked it because Sai was caught mid-laugh.

Mixed in with the pictures were other small tokens. There was a folded note with the words TOP SECRET! FOR SAKU-CHAN'S EYES ONLY! written in a child's handwriting. There were faded tickets to a school play dated ten years ago, a wedding invitation, a final grade sheet that showed straight A's in all subjects and a ticket to a music festival.

He shouldn't be so surprised that Sakura had managed to have a life for herself, but he was surprised anyway. If he didn't know better, he would think this picture wall would think that its owner was a normal girl, not a seasoned jounin of Konoha. Sakura had seemed to consciously choose pictures of her peers and herself not in uniform.

And yet...there was something off. It took a few seconds for Sai to figure it out.

None of the pictures included Kakashi-senpai.

"So you found that, huh?" Sakura was at his side, followed by a disgruntled Naruto. The blonde jounin casually put an arm around Sakura and drew her close. Sakura put an arm around Naruto's waist in response. The two had been seeing more of each other in the past year, and although it wasn't official, they had become more or less an item. The three gazed at the pictures in a friendly silence.

"I can't believe Gai is in there, of all people," Naruto commented. It was a picture taken last year, on Genma's birthday that became an impromptu get-together of junior shinobi and their former teachers.

Sai wondered if Sakura had a fight with Kakashi-senpai. He had sense that this picture wall was carefully put together by Sakura, as a happy reminder of people she loved and her memories with them. But no, there was no indication that a picture had been taken out. The pictures were chosen in advance, and then put together. She couldn't have done this by design. Maybe she had forgotten?

But he was curious. "Sakura-san, why isn't Kakashi-senpai in your pictures? With exception of the framed picture of the old Team 7, of course."

"Oh." Sakura had leaned her head against Naruto's shoulder, unperturbed. Naruto squinted closer to confirm Sai's observation. "I don't know. I didn't do it on purpose."

"Kakashi-sensei doesn't like his pictures taken. I mean, the guy doesn't even like to be looked at." Naruto helpfully supplied.

"Yeah..." Sakura looked thoughtful, if a little ill at ease. She raised her head from Naruto's shoulder. "You've probably noticed, Sai, Kakashi-sensei and I have never been really close. I haven't really been his favorite student, with him running after this one and Sasuke and all." she gave Naruto a gentle poke as she said this.

"Hey!" Naruto protested. "I wasn't his favorite!"

"Yes you were." she stuck out her tongue at him. She turned her attention back to Sai. "And he never went out much, and much less at events that I arranged." she sounded a little bitter. "I learned that early in my acquaintance with him, so I just gave up early in the game, so to speak."

"The Cake Incident." Naruto nodded wisely.

"Excuse me?" Sai shot a quizzical look at his two friends.

Sakura laughed lightly. "I keep forgetting you're a new addition, Sai." she said. "The Cake Incident, is something that I don't really like talking about, but I'll make you an exception. But all the kids our age know about it."

She shot a look at the door to ensure that Kakashi hadn't arrived yet. Sai also made a quick scan in the area to check for the Copy Nin's chakra signature. All clear. Whatever it was, it was something that Sakura didn't want their former teacher to hear.

"The Cake Incident happened in our first year with him," Sakura began. "We were twelve years old and pretty green, but we were starting to become friends with each other and Kakashi-sensei." She broke free of Naruto's arm and went over to fix some pictures on the wall, just to find something to do with her hands.

"One time we came home from a pretty dull mission and found out that it was Kakashi's birthday the next day. I was still looking for a way for him to pay more attention to me-" Naruto rolled his eyes. "So I had gotten it in my head that we would throw a surprise party for him at his apartment. Sasuke even helped in defusing the booby traps." she smiled at this memory, a rare thing when Sasuke's name was mentioned.

"The Cake Incident got its name because I made the cake for the party. It was a really fancy one, and I borrowed money to make it from scratch. I made the cake to look like Pakkun. It was a really pretty, Sai, you would've loved it." she shifted from the picture wall and sat down on her bed, her face thoughtful.

"So all three of us were in his kitchen, hiding, waiting for him to come home. Hours pass. And he just didn't show up. It was so embarrassing. Sasuke and Naruto had to help me clean up and they went home. But they didn't know that I stayed." Naruto sighed heavily and slapped a hand on his forehead, as if it had just happened yesterday.

"I stayed well past midnight, holding this stupid cake, you know. I don't even know why I was so persistent!" Sakura laughed, but of course Sai knew that persistence was a key trait in Sakura's personality. "'So I was there until early morning on his front steps, but Kakashi-sensei never arrived." Sai felt sorry for her, the mental image of a young Sakura waiting hopefully outdoors with a cake in hand was a rather sad sight.

"I went home at around three in the morning. My mother was so angry at me. She was so angry that she took the cake I baked and threw it in the trash." Sakura shrugged, as if it was no big deal, but Sai noted that her voice became slightly thicker at that last detail.

"She was crying about it for a week." Naruto added, frowning.

"Yeah, but it was a good lesson. I don't blame him, he probably had some other plans that night. But the years after...?" here she paused thoughtfully. "Some people just don't become your friends. I mean, he'll always be important in some way, but we're not really friends. He made sure of that in more ways than one." Sakura looked at the clock. "And friends certainly don't show up late on an important day in your life." She looked at Sai and Naruto. "We really have to go without him."

The trio quickly put on their jackets and ventured out in the chilly night. Sakura clasped her hands with him and Naruto as they made their way to the town hall.

"This is going to be a long night of ass-kissing." Sakura intoned seriously. "You brats better not leave my side all evening." Naruto laughed and crossed his heart, while Sai nodded.

Unseen by any of them, a tall silver-haired jounin pushed himself off a wall and began to shadow their steps.

* * *

"I'm very happy to receive this award on behalf of Konoha, and look forward to sharing and learning more between our great nations. Most of all, I'd like to thank all the people who made this possible-my mother and father, my friends Naruto, Sai, and Ino, Yamato-sensei, the dedicated staff and medic-nin of Konoha hospital, our friends from Sunagakure, and most of all, I'd like to thank Tsunade-sama." and here, the pink-haired kunoichi turned to the current Hokage's direction and bowed deeply. Hokage gave a stately nod in return, upon which Sakura straightened and resumed her speech. "She took a chance on a little girl with big dreams, and for that I am forever grateful. Thank you, everyone." The speech was perfect, and of course straight-A student Sakura Haruno nailed it. Sai couldn't help but smile.

The town hall burst in applause, with whistles and cheers from the younger set. Tsunade looked deeply touched, as she clapped alongside them with tears in her eyes.

Sai noticed that there was only one person who wasn't clapping: a certain Copy Nin who was impassively watching the pink-haired girl onstage. Sai had noticed his presence following them on the way to Sakura's event, and wondered if he had heard the whole exchange about the unfortunate Cake Incident. Their former sensei was now standing off at the far end, looking bored as usual.

Sakura was beaming and waving to the audience as she was escorted offstage. The program was over, and everyone started to file out of the town hall. No one from Konoha missed that Sakura failed to mention her former teacher, and Sai saw some of his peers clap a consoling hand on Kakashi's shoulder as they passed him by. This only served to piss shinobi further, he observed.

"Sakura, that was amazing!" Naruto ran up to his-was she his girlfriend now? But he noticed that Naruto just managed to give her a chaste, if overly enthusiastic kiss, on one one pale cheek. Sakura seemed pleased though, and blushed winningly.

"Thanks...Naruto." the two gazed at each other a little moonily, until Sai coughed in his hand.

"I thought we had some ass kissing to do today." he shrugged apologetically as Naruto gave him a dirty look. In fact, there were already a deluge of older-looking rich women were already making their way towards Konoha's medical genius. One of them were already looking at Sai like he was a particularly tasty morsel. He'd encountered her before and he really, really didn't want to repeat the experience.

"Sakura..." Sai began pleadingly.

Sakura gave him a look of understanding. "Fine you can go," she groused as she took Naruto's hand. "Meet us later?"

"Of course."

Sai decided to wander around a bit. Most of the civilians have gone, but shinobi of different ranks milled about, socializing before they proceeded to the dinner hosted by the Hokage afterwards. On one hand, Sai liked that there was a conscious effort between countries to band together more closely. On the other hand, man this was boring.

"Kakashi. Fancy seeing you here."

Tsunade had approached his former teacher, who hadn't left despite his air of boredom. Tsunade traced Kakashi's line of sight towards Sakura, who talked animatedly with a small group. "You must be very proud of her."

"I guess." Kakashi yawned and stretched out. "I'm just here for the free food."

Tsunade gave the silver-haired jounin a shrewd look. "Are you sore that she didn't mention you in her speech?"

"Only politicians like you are bothered by things like that, Tsunade-sama."

Her expression softened. "She probably didn't mean anything by it, you know."

Kakashi shrugged, as if it didn't concern him either way. "I had nothing to do with...all of this, anyway." he gestured vaguely towards the auditorium. He put his hands in his pockets. "And we both know I was made mentor Team 7 in the first place. It wasn't because of her. She knows it, I know it, so should you really be surprised?"

Tsunade stared at him for a moment and then sighed. "You really are an idiot." she said softly before she turned away.

Sai watched the older jounin go when he felt Sakura's arm around his shoulders. "Ya big coward!" she teased. "Who knew that the great and mighty Sai's weakness are a bunch of lovestruck ladies?"

"Don't tell anyone." he deadpanned as Naruto caught up with both of them.

"Sakura-chaaan...I thought you were the guest of honor, but we're the last to leave!" Naruto complained. "I'm hungry!"

"Naruto, I swear...you are a stomach that happens to have a human attached to it..."

* * *

Kakashi wasn't so childish as to walk out of the dinner. He hung around manfully, took all the gentle jabs at being forgotten, and was generally genial with everyone, although he had to promise a drunken Gai to take up his challenge next time, seeing as there were representatives from the other countries around. "As usual, you are right, my wise eternal rival!" he heard Gai shout enthusiastically from the other side of the room.

Sakura on the other hand, didn't seem to notice anything amiss. She had been surrounded by so many guests and peers that Naruto was even able to slip away to converse with Gaara, who had arrived as a guest of honor (Sunagakure having had an important role in Sakura's research). Sakura noticed after a few minutes and was quick enough to pinch his arm back to her side as she smiled sweetly.

What a strange sight, Sai reflected. Ninjas from different countries talking and socializing like they had been never been enemies. Which was the point, Sakura had pointed out to him earlier in the evening. The award was given to her half-baked but it was never the goal in the first place; what they were there for was this opportunity for these people to get together. Sakura was also gaining a fair amount of political savvy, Sai realized. She was becoming more and more like Tsunade everyday.  
"Maybe with all the funding that comes with Sakura's research, the Hokage can cut us some more slack in missions." he heard Genma say.

"Pfft. Boring." Yamato replied as he downed a glass of wine. "Just admit that you're getting old, Genma."

"I will admit no such thing! But think about it, Kurenai," the brown-haired jounin turned to the dark-haired beauty. "You'd get more time to spend with your kid!"

"Leave me out of it, idiot." Kurenai responded with a smrik. "If you want to make excuses, get your own child."

"What about you, Kakashi?" Genma looked up expectantly to the Copy Nin. "Think about it! You'd get to have more time with your...uh...reading."

Kakashi simply shrugged.

"Genma, haven't you heard? Kakashi isn't going to be a beneficiary to this." Yamato must've had more drink than he realized, Sai thought. "Whatever he did to Sakura-chan, he must've pissed her off real bad for her not to even thank him."

An awkward silence blanketed the table as Yamato took another drink. "Sakura-chan was just nervous and forgot. It happens, big speech like that." Kurenai finally said, as her eyes darted back and forth between Yamato and Kakashi. Sai had never seen the older woman so nervous. But Kakashi's demeanor still radiated calm.

"Which reminds me, I have a new Icha Icha to catch up with!" Kakashi said cheerfully as he whipped out a familiar orange book. "Have fun, guys!" he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kurenai wasted no time knocking Yamato on the head. "You silly drunk!" she chastised. "How can you say something like that to your senpai?"

But Yamato was already asleep.

* * *

The party ended late as the team saw the last of the stragglers out. Sakura had felt weirdly compelled to stay on until the end, and now they sat at one of the tables in the big hall. Naruto was already dozing, his head resting on the table.

Sakura walked to the balcony and leaned out, enjoying the cool night wind. "Tonight was fun." she whispered happily. "Did you have fun, Sai?"

"I guess." he replied.

"What's wrong?"

He turned to face her. "You should return the award."

"W-what?"

He looked back out at the darkness. "You're too stupid to deserve it."

It was testament to Sakura's newfound maturity that she didn't pummel him to the ground as hard as she could, as fast as she could. She clenched her fist instead. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked in carefully measured tones.

"Sakura-chan, are you still upset about the Cake Incident?"

Her anger was replaced by a puzzled look. "What? Of course not!"

He fixed her with an even stare. "So why are you still punishing Kakashi-senpai over it?"

"What are you talking about!"

"You know what I mean." he leaned against the railing, elbows perched carefully behind him. Despite what he said earlier, he didn't really think Sakura was stupid. "You know what you did."

A look of understanding crossed Sakura's face. Instead of looking guilty about it, she crossed her arms and had that moody, sullen expression that he knew so well.

"Oh, don't sulk." Sai scolded mildly.

"I'm not sulking, Sai." she said sulkily.

He sighed deeply. "Look, Sakura-chan." he put his hands on her shoulders so she would face him properly. He loved this girl, but she was quite bull-headed when she wanted to be. "Aren't you being a hypocrite here?" When she remained stubbornly silent, he pressed on. "You always told me that the one thing you wished Sasuke had learned was to forgive. And that no matter what happens, we're all still a team. Kakashi-senpai...well, he's a weird one. And he wasn't the best or the most perfect sensei you could've had...but he did what he can. He's saved our lives more than once, and he's helped you more than you know."

Sakura had a stunned look on her face. "Wow Sai..." she breathed. "I didn't know you can say so many words."

He shrugged. "It happens."

Sakura looked away and brushed a corner of her eye, as if something had caught there. "Well, he was a jerk." she muttered. "He didn't even show up on time today."

"He's always late, and I don't know, Sakura, you were still the bigger jerk," Sai replied in the same mild voice.

"He ignored me all those years!" her voice was dangerously high.

"Well, you humiliated him in front of his peers and superiors. Sounds about fair."

Sakura looked stricken at the revelation. Sai shrugged again and made his way back to Naruto, and hoisted his sleeping friend up on his shoulders. "We should get this one home." he said. "Will you think about what I said, Sakura-chan?" he gave her his customary smile.

She looked thoughtful and chastened. "I will."

He patted her head. "That's my girl."

* * *

Three days later, news came about that Sakura Haruno had finally successfully executed the use of chakra threads in surgery.

Sai watched the live television coverage as cameras converged on their most famous medic-nin.

"Yes, I would like to confirm that after all our hard work, we have been able to utilize chakra threads for our surgical procedure this afternoon." she said confidently, her pink hair still tied up in a high ponytail. "We still have a long way to go in replicating what I did, but don't worry, I will write the step-by-step guide." the media crew laughed.

"Haruno-san," someone asked. "Do you have a name for this procedure?"

"Yes." she looked straight at the camera. "It will be named after my former teacher, who first taught me chakra control."

Sai sat up straighter, interested.

"It's going to be called the Hatake Method." And with that, Sakura smiled.

* * *

**A/N: Yay, Sai! This fic hasn't had enough of him and his belly button goodness. In general I just love new team 7. They are fun to write.**

**Thank you for reading! Reviews would be awesome. :)**


	7. Oh My, My, My

_Take me back when our world was one block wide_

_I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried_

_Just two kids, you and I_

* * *

He really had to report back to base, but right now, Kakashi didn't really feel like it.

He gripped his wounded arm lightly as he leaned back against the tree he was hiding in. He didn't expect ANBU to be difficult, but working alone and without a team...well, it was an experience.

The reconnaissance mission went well, although he had a close shave with one of the shinobi guarding the daimyo. It wasn't anything bad enough to positively identify him with Konoha, but it wasn't his best job, either. It wasn't always when he slipped up, but Kakashi was hardest on himself more than anyone, and right now he didn't feel like getting told off on top of it all.

So for now, he'll have to stay in the tree.

"One...two...three..." childish voices floated in the air, calling his attention. He took a peek down and spotted some children in the distance, getting ready to play hide-and-seek.

Nearer the base of the tree where he was resting in, a scraggly-looking kid looked at the other children, almost hiding, a hungry look in his blue eyes.

Minato-sensei's child...

It hurt Kakashi's heart to see Naruto in such a state. The child was wearing dirty clothes, his shaggy hair hung in clumps, and his shoes were too small for him. Still, the blue eyes were piercing and he had a small smile on that whiskered face. Kakashi had been warned to stay away from him...

...but Minato-sensei's child...

His thoughts were distracted when another presence came closer. Pink hair, red dress, and a red ribbon that stuck up like rabbit ears, the girl that drew nearer was obviously well-taken care of and loved, in stark contrast to Naruto's neglect. She looked around for a hiding place, her little feet thumping softly against the grassy knoll.

Naruto had hidden himself in the nearby bushes when she arrived. Unknowing that there was already someone in her chosen hiding spot, the pink-haired girl dove into the leafy underbrush. Kakashi heard her squeak of surprise.

"Hey! This is my hiding spot!"

"Uh-uh! I got here first! Find your own hiding spot!"

"You're not even part of the game!"

Naruto was quiet for a little while. When he spoke again, there were tears in his voice. "So what?! I still got here first!"

The girl seemed surprised, then put up a finger to shush him. "Okay. I guess you can stay here with me for a little while. But be quiet, 'kay?"

For some reason this made Naruto even more teary-eyed, but he nodded nevertheless. The two children sat in absolute quiet for a minute, until she spoke up.

"You're...you're the boy on the swing, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

She laid her cheek against her palm and regarded him with her green eyes. "You're a big troublemaker, is that why everyone doesn't like you?"

"That's not it..." Naruto began, but trailed off. Everyone hated the boy even before he became a troublemaker, but the pink-haired girl didn't know about that.

"I know it was you who doodled over Ino-chan's new notebook." she sounded a bit accusing, now. Then she sighed and giggled. "That's okay, though, she was getting a bit stuck up about it."

Naruto's face brightened at her laugh. Even if he didn't know much about on these kinds of things, Kakashi knew that this kid was a goner for this girl.

The first smile after years of being hated...it was close enough to feeling something like love from another person. And just for that, Kakashi knew that Naruto was going to love this girl for good.

He'd been there. The days after his father's suicide...the first smile he got was when he met Minato-sensei. The older man patted him on his head and welcomed him to his new team.

_Welcome, Kakashi! _He remembered his sensei say.

"My name's Sakura," she said softly, as she reached out her hand.

"Naruto." the boy took her hand and shook it solemnly.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun. You're not so bad!" Another smile. She would never need to fear the worst of Naruto's pranks, Kakashi mused, grinning to himself.

_Sakura. Thank you. You don't know you're saving that kid's life now._

A big shout from a distance broke the spell. Someone was already caught, and another game was being planned. A girl was calling for Sakura. The two children blinked at each other, and she smiled sheepishly. "I've got to go, Naruto-kun." She wiggled out of the shrub and dusted herself off. "I'll see you around!"

Naruto could only wave, dumbstruck. "See you," he managed to say. He looked disappointed when she finally disappeared from view.

* * *

It was too bad, really, that she met Sasuke a few days later.

* * *

Naruto hung around that same hiding spot for a few days after too, hoping he'd talk to her again.

* * *

Several years later, Kakashi had the choice of forming his own genin team.

The Third looked up from his paperwork and slid across the list of incoming genin from the Academy. "As you may know, we have a rather interesting batch this year," he said. "I'm hoping you could keep an eye out on the most unpredictable ones: Naruto and that Uchiha boy."

Kakashi picked up the list.

"You know, I really didn't expect you to leave ANBU." the Hokage continued. "Although I think it's good timing on your part; I wouldn't entrust these two to just anyone."

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi began. "This team needs a third person."

"Hmm." the older man stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I was thinking of adding Ino Yamanaka to round up the list. She's smart, has potential. I think her personality could help strengthen the teamwork."

Kakashi skimmed the list. Hyuga...Aburame...Nara...it was like the who's who of Konoha's prominent ninja families. His eye finally settled on one unfamiliar name.

Sakura Haruno.

Kakashi smiled.

Naruto's girl. The person he needed to push the jinchuriki into becoming a stronger man.

"If I may, Hokage-sama, I'd like to make a recommendation..."

* * *

**A/N:** This is a short one, but I'll make it up in later chapters! Reviews are chocolate to my soul :)


	8. Crush

**Crush**  
_It's just a little crush_  
_Not like I faint every time we touch_

* * *

Whoever said that idle hands were the devil's playground foresaw the arrival of Naruto in this world.

It was only natural that it started with a rather unchallenging, boring, rote mission that involved a paranoid businessman and lots of money. Team 7 had been tasked to act as security for a rather large contingent of caravans that were making its way through Fire Country. While routine, the mission did require a rather strict security formation that left each team member to their own devices for extended periods of time.

The fact that Naruto didn't seem to have any particular hobby was never a problem until that particular mission. Sakura had her medical texts, Sai had his artwork, Yamato had his meditation, and of course Kakashi could read and re-read Icha Icha until the end of time. The jinchuriki found out very quickly that playing poker with his clones was pretty useless, conversing with them even worse, and playing solitaire tedious.

It was only a matter of time when his mind finally wandered into one of the basest hobbies of the bored: Gossip.

Kakashi found him and Sai huddled together the day it all started. Naruto had wandered off from his post, letting his clone do all the hard work for him. Kakashi made it a point to touch base with each team member every other hour, and that's how he came upon the two boys gossiping like old ladies.

"So are you certain that Sakura is-" Sai broke off as he tried to recall the word. "-is absolutely _compressing _on someone?"

Naruto looked irritated. "No, Sai, you make it sound like Sakura is doing one of her medical procedures..."

"I sure hope she isn't." Kakashi butted in smoothly as the two boys looked up guiltily (Naruto, anyway). "Because we're in the middle of nowhere and I'd rather she do it in a hospital."

"Ahh, Kakashi-sensei! Just the guy I was looking for!" Naruto happily bounced back from his two-second guilt and grabbed him by the arm. "I was just telling Sai about the wonders of crushes."

"Crushes..." Kakashi repeated.

"Ah are you so old you already forgot about what that word means?" Naruto demanded.

"Squish is the term used for feelings of infatuation one may have on another person. It is a notably superficial attachment, usually arising from similarly superficial attractions such as a pretty face or a notable reputation." Sai helpfully supplied. "Usually though it is used for attractions that are felt by young people, so Kakashi-senpai may be having a hard time remembering what it is."

"I remember it fine, Sai, thank you." Kakashi sighed. "And it's crush." These two idiots, really.

"Anyway," Naruto broke out into a mischievous grin. "I think Sakura-chan has a crush on someone."

He didn't know why he assumed it would be Sai, but Kakashi did, and looked at the pale boy for confirmation. Sai seemed to read his mind and shook his head. "It's not me, senpai."

"Hey, how come you don't assume it's me?!" Naruto pouted.

"It's never you, Naruto." Kakashi deadpanned. Anyway, Sai looked like Sasuke, if he squinted. Then a sudden thought made him go cold a little.

"She...doesn't have a crush on me, does she?"

Naruto burst out in such riotous laughter that Kakashi almost felt slighted. Why wouldn't Sakura have a crush on him? He was crush material. He realized how stupid this train of thought was and immediately put a stop on it. These two were rubbing off on him.

"How could she have a crush on you? Because your right eye is so sexy!?" Naruto chortled as he wiped his eyes.

"Alright, Naruto, that's enough. So it's Yamato then?" he asked mildly.

Naruto finally straightened and nodded. "Yup! She's been acting weird since the mission started, since that freak accident with the kunai and all."

Kakashi sighed again, familiar with the incident Naruto was referring to. A few days before deployment, they had been training side-by-side with Gai's team when Tenten thought it would be a good idea to put her new inventions to use. One such invention was a kind of bomb that set loose a hundred kunai upon explosion. They weren't warned beforehand, and Yamato had pushed Sakura into safety.

It was the stuff of Icha Icha (the cleaner, more romantic parts). Yamato had straddled Sakura for a few seconds and they had stared at each other full in the face before they stood up. Tenten had apologized profusely (and had to do a hundred pushups as a result) but Sakura was none the worse for wear. Kakashi hadn't seen anything...off afterwards, but maybe Naruto's finely-honed attention to Sakura picked up something more.

"She walked home with him afterwards." Sai suddenly said, again as if he could read Kakashi's train of thought. "Naruto said that unusual actions like that is usually one of the first signs of a smash."

"A crush." Naruto corrected.

"But walking home together is not unusual at all." Kakashi pointed out.

"Aha! See, that's what I thought too, but we usually walk in groups of three or four. But that particular afternoon, it was like Sakura-chan manipulated me and Sai into letting her and Yamato walk together." Naruto wiggled his eyebrows, like it helped prove his point better.

"Maybe she just didn't feel like walking with you two that day. You could get tiresome every now and then, you know." Kakashi could be persistent, too.

"They were talking very quietly, like they didn't want to be overheard." Sai said. For some indecipherable reason the dark-haired boy found this topic engaging. "And she seemed quite excited talking to him too. Flushed cheeks, high-pitched voice, all the classic physical signs of a squash."

"A crush." Kakashi corrected. He crossed his arms. "You two, I didn't get called a genius shinobi to waste my brain cells like this. Just drop this matter and focus on the mission, alright?"

"You're such a boring old fart." Naruto grumbled, but obediently did as told as he popped into thin air. Sai merely shrugged and went back to his ink drawings.

* * *

If only Kakashi could do the same and drop the matter entirely himself.

He found Sakura hanging out on top of one of the caravans, long legs dangling off on one side. The mission had left her with a somewhat warmer skin tone, which set off her coloring brilliantly. She hardly noticed him, her eyes fixed on a direction that when traced, led to...Yamato, who stood a good mile away ahead of the caravan trail.

"Sakura." he called.

"Huh? Oh! Sensei!" Sakura hopped off the caravan with ease and landed beside him. "What's up?"

"Just checking on you."

"Well, nothing much to report on my end. There were a couple of wolves that Yamato made short work of, but it was too minor to report to you immediately, but he will report it to you." Sakura said, and he detected the faintest of admiring sighs at Yamato's bravery.

"Uh huh, but I was asking about what happened here, not what happened with Yamato." Kakashi said.

"Sheesh, so strict." Sakura muttered. "I told you, there's nothing to report. I knew what happened because I can see Yamato from here. It's not exactly difficult." She blew a lock of hair out of her face in irritation.

Kakashi stared at Sakura. Would it be so terrible for Sakura to have a crush on Yamato? Sure, he was older by ten years, but it wouldn't be too significant given a few more years on her end. His mild temperament could suit Sakura's impatient, simmering one. He had a sense of humor, and he was kind of lame with his 'fear face' but she saw him laugh at Yamato's jokes every now and then.

Kakashi stopped himself again from pursuing that train of thought. He was just as bad as Naruto, already jumping to conclusions and practically planning Sakura's wedding. What was wrong with him today?

It had only been a month after the near-disastrous baby jutsu incident, and so far they hadn't really talked about. It wasn't that he had any desire to, and Sakura seemed mostly over it, anyway. Maybe this concern was just a weird form of attachment that arose from that incident?

This train of thought was definitely weird now, so he put an end to it.

"Sensei? Hello? Are you still there?" Sakura waved a palm in front of his face. Kakashi blinked and Sakura fixed him a quizzical stare. "You kinda phased out on me there."

"Never mind that, Sakura." He snapped. "Just keep your attention at the task at hand and stop dawdling around."

She drew back slightly, stung. "Yes, sir."

He wanted to apologize, changed his mind, and left instead. Sakura stared at the spot he'd been for a few seconds before she leapt back up to her original position.

* * *

Really, she was just trying to annoy the team now.

Kakashi spied the two of them seated around the fire. Sai and Naruto were tasked to keep watch while the three of them rested. Kakashi had just come back from speaking with one of the caravan's minders when he spotted his two teammates conversing from a distance. As Sai had told him earlier, the two were speaking in low voices; so low, in fact, that Kakashi could barely hear them. The Copy Nin stopped in his tracks, letting the scenario unfold in front of him.

Yamato nodded at something Sakura said and bent his head towards her. She laid gentle fingers on his headguard and pulled it off him slowly. Yamato straightened up again and smiled gratefully.

"See? Doesn't that feel better?" Sakura said in a normal speaking voice.

"You're right, I should get it adjusted when we get back to Konoha." Yamato replied.

"Serves you right for not listening to me." Sakura laughed. Kakashi frowned. That certainly sounded like a flirty laugh to him. Was this really just a crush?

"Invading personal spaces, making excuses to touch each other." Sai suddenly intoned beside him. "Her crunch is getting serious."

"You mean her crush." Kakashi corrected. "What are you doing here?"

"Naruto said his clone would cover for me, and he wanted to know the scoop." Sai replied impassively. Kakashi shook his head, but knew it was futile to put up a pretense of a moral high ground now, so they both stayed in their places and waited.

Yamato and Sakura were having a very engrossing conversation. The kunoichi was completely relaxed, one cheek resting against the palm of her hand as she listened to Yamato. Kakashi noted her body language, toes pointed towards her companion, torso subtly turned just so. Her eyes were soft in the firelight and her laugh easy.

Then suddenly, the two went quiet. Had they suspected that they were here in the bushes, peeping on them like pervs?

But no. Instead, Sakura slowly raised gloved hands towards Yamato's head. The former ANBU's dark eyes went quiet and soft. She rested both palms against the sides of his head. Gently, gently...she inched towards him.

Kakashi almost yelled for her to stop.

But the familiar green chakra emitted from her hands as she set about to put an ease to Yamato's headache.

"Oh. That was anti-climatic." Sai muttered.

Two tree stumps suddenly erupted from the ground beneath them, elevating both Kakashi and Sai past the bushes they were hiding. Yamato almost looked bored, while Sakura went about her work, nonplussed.

"Would you mind telling us what you two are doing there? And I hope you weren't pooping." Yamato said.

Sai beat Kakashi to the punch. "We were watching Sakura-chan comminute on you."

"What?" Sakura and Yamato chorused.

"Nothing." Kakashi looked warningly at Sai. "It was just that you two looked so comfortable there and all..."

Now it was Sakura's turn to look annoyed. Clearly, his earlier snapping at her had not gone unforgotten. She was off-duty now and could say what she wanted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think Kakashi-sensei is concerned that Yamato is a little old for you..." Sai trailed off when he saw the positively murderous look on Sakura's face. Yamato sputtered. But both of them had turned into an interesting shade of red.

"WHAT?!"

"I've heard disturbing rumors." Kakashi said vaguely, torn between deciding whether he should make a run for it, or to kick Sai first for being such a tactless ass.

"From who?! We're in the middle of nowhere where the cows and horses outnumber the humans ten to one!" Sakura exclaimed, her hands tightened into fists now. "Don't tell me you've been gossiping among yourselves; that's really pathetic."

Kakashi and Sai remained silent.

"...You've been gossiping among yourselves..." Sakura grumbled.

"I see there's been a misunderstanding..." Yamato said, more sedate but with redder cheeks now. He glanced at Sakura. "They must've misconstrued our little talks, Sakura-chan."

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously!" She spit out, venomous.

"Senpai, Sai, nothing's going on." Yamato scratched his head, embarrassed. "Sakura-chan and me are committee heads of this year's cherry blossom viewing festival. I've had some ideas to make structures to make the experience more comfortable for more people, and she was more than happy to hear me out."

The cherry blossom viewing festival. Sakura loved that holiday. Shouldn't be too surprised that she got excited about it every time she talked to Yamato. She was also very keen on keeping the whole thing under wraps, hence the secrecy.

Now he wished Naruto was here so he could give him a swift kick too.

"What's wrong with you two?" Sakura asked. "Even if I did have a crush on Yamato, why does it matter? Not that I do (sorry Yamato)! Sai I can understand because you're a big weirdo but..." she turned to Kakashi, who had already procured an Icha Icha and was busy reading it. "What's this thing about age gap?"

Kakashi closed his book with a snap. "It's nothing. Forget that I said it. Naruto just planted that crazy idea and we just ran along with it." Smooth, Kakashi. Smooth.

"Oh no no no no, you're not going to pin this whole thing on Naruto." Sakura crossed her arms and shifted her weight on one foot. Sai had already slipped off, the coward, but the kunoichi didn't seem too bothered about that. She was still waiting for an answer.

So was Yamato. He looked up expectantly at Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed heavily. "I just wanted to make sure that we all don't get distracted from the mission. It doesn't do us any good to underestimate it because it's boring."

"If you haven't noticed, WE," Sakura angrily waved a finger between her and Yamato. "Have been paying attention and actually doing our jobs. While you...!"

"That's enough, Sakura." Yamato chided gently. He nodded to Kakashi. "Your feedback is well-taken, senpai. We'll do our best from now on."

Ahh, he hadn't done it a while, but pulling rank felt good, even if Yamato was the one who did it, Kakashi mused.

"Yamato...!" Sakura protested.

"Well! No harm done, all's well that ends well, et cetera." He supposed he could be magnanimous since Yamato gave him a way out. He smiled at them both. "See you around!" Before either could reply, he already disappeared in a poof of smoke.

* * *

Sakura stamped her foot in frustration before turning to Yamato. "You shouldn't have let them get away with it!"

Yamato sighed and put a conciliatory hand on the pink-haired girl's shoulder. "Just forget about it. Those guys were just bored."

"But it's so embarrassing..." she allowed him to lead her back to the logs they've been sitting on.

"They have to get entertainment from somewhere." Yamato laughed.

Sakura regarded him seriously. "You know, it never really occurred to me what a nice guy you were, Yamato. I mean...I just publicly denied you there, but here you are just being all whatever about it.." she chuckled uneasily.

Yamato shrugged, still clearly unbothered. "Why should I be bothered when I know the truth?"

"If only Naruto can think the same." Sakura sighed. "I just don't understand why Kakashi was so worried about it."

"He feels a certain amount of responsibility for you, beyond a team member. That won't ever change, I think." Yamato stood up to get more wood to feed the fire.

"But an age gap...is that really so bad?" Sakura asked quietly. Yamato slowly swivelled in place to regard Sakura, whose mind was already far away.

"Why, do you have a crush on Jiraiya-sama or something?" he joked. That did the trick. Sakura was pulled back into the present as she made a face.

"That's disgusting! You're worse than either of them."

Yamata smiled cheerfully as he sat next to her again. "Age gaps don't matter, but usually relationships like that suffer because the people involved are in very different stages of life and have different priorities." Yamato paused, seeing the unconvinced look on Sakura's face. "Think of relationships as a mission, a two-man team. It matters that you have the same goal, but it matters more that you agree on how to reach that goal in the first place. So what does it matter if you're assigned a genin, a chunin or a jounin? What matters is the teamwork."

"Ahh...so wise. If you go on any further I might actually get a crush on you for real!" Sakura teased. Yamato felt his cheeks go warm as he laughed shyly.

He clapped a hand on Sakura's shoulder again. "Just forget about it. These kinds of things always happen when you're on a mission with these big-brother types."

"Big-brother types..." Sakura echoed, her voice a little hollow. She laughed weakly and averted her eyes back to the fire. "Of course. Of course. You're right." She suddenly stood up and rubbed her stomach. "I'm going to get dinner from the kitchens. Wait for me here, okay?"

With that, she vanished in a pink flash.

Yamato blinked. Did he say something wrong? She just seemed a tiny little bit upset by something he said just then. After puzzling over it for a minute, he gave up. Women would always be a mystery to him, and that includes Sakura. And unlike the others, he won't let boredom get the better of him by speculating on useless things.

Idle hands were the devil's playground after all. With that in mind, Yamato pulled out a book and began to read by the fire.

* * *

**A/N:** If you haven't noticed, in this fic, everyone in the Naruto-verse is alive and well (unlike in canon...grumble grumble). Except The Third. Sorry, The Third.

Thanks to all the lovely people who've commented, favorited and followed. I hope you are all still enjoying the story. I'm starting to think if I should start listing Kakashi and Sakura's ages at the beginning of each chapter (a la The Time Traveler's Wife) to indicate when each chapter is happening, but I'm afraid that it would be too distracting. What do you guys think?

You know what a really inexpensive Christmas gift would be for me? REVIEWS!

Thanks for reading!


	9. Belief

**Belief**

_Tonight, you arrested my mind_

_When you came to my defense_

_With a knife in the shape of your mouth_

_In the form of your body_

_With the wrath of a god_

* * *

His nose was cold.

Konohamaru rubbed his nose for the nth time as he made his approach towards the faint cluster of lights and shadowy tents..He hoped for the nth time that the offending nose wouldn't fall off. He'd been climbing the snowy mountain for the better part of the day, and the sight of the lights was a welcome relief.

He passed by the lookout guards without much effort. His _hitai-ate _made sure of that.

Clutching his jacket against the cold, Konohamaru made his way as quickly as his frozen feet could take him down the maze of tents. He quickly went through the details of his assignment. Two months ago, Konoha had sent out two jounin to aid Snow Country. A minor lord who had been found guilty of treason was holding his last stand in his ice fortress. He had been powerful and influential enough to gather a small army of his own, including a yet-unidentified missing-nin. The mission was technically a B-class mission, but Konohamaru knew one of the shinobi, Hatake Kakashi, was asked to lead the attack as captain, an unusual assignment in and of itself.

There was no shortage of military leadership in Snow Country (and he was sure the assignation of such an important post to an outsider brought a lot of grumbles within their own), but the element of the missing-nin changed the game altogether. Yukigakure had long disbanded, their citizens deciding to go back completely into civilian life. No one expected the ice and snow to come back with a vengeance, and they had been caught off-guard. Hence the call for aid from one of their known allies.

And now his nose was cold again. He was very prone to cold, and that was why he wore scarves even in the middle of summer, but there was no saying no to this mission.

He reflected that in addition to Kakashi's military prowess, his experience as the legendary Konoha ninja also helped him get the job as well. The daimyo wanted this siege to end quickly, but as far as he knew, it had been going well over longer than expected, with very little to no progress. A stalemate.

He wondered what he was doing here. Not that he wasn't pleased to be summoned, but he was under the impression that Snow Country was under a budget, hence only was able to get two of Konoha's jounins. Did that mean he was a discount? Buy two, get one free? He felt his pride slighted by the thought, then immediately felt foolish. Fighting by Hatake Kakashi's side was an honor in and of itself.

He finally found himself in front of the Captain's quarters, and it was indistinguishable from the rest. Leave it to someone like Kakashi to refuse guards, a bigger tent, or any kind of entourage at all. Unless Konohamaru had been sent to be one, which he doubted.

"Ah, is it Konohamaru then?" Kakashi greeted from his desk as the tent's entrance flapped behind the younger chuunin. The jounin looked tired, but his voice was warm. He was bent over the table papered with maps and reports, several reports piled at one side, and quite a few electric lamps burning to keep the whole place illuminated. He was wearing his usual shinobi uniform, and looked as he usually did, with the exception of the bright red scarf he wore around his neck.

"Reporting for duty, sir."

Kakashi nodded and indicated one of the seats in front of the desk. "Please, sit." Konohamaru was quick to comply, putting down his bag and made himself comfortable. After a moment's hesitation, he drew and slid his enlistment document towards Kakashi along with his written recommendation. They sat for a few moments in silence as Kakashi reviewed the papers.

"You've refreshed your cold weather survival training?" Kakashi finally asked at length. Konohamaru nodded. "Good. It says here that your specialty are laying down traps, as well as identifying and disabling them?"

"Yes. I've also brushed up on my genjutsu, as you've requested." Kakashi nodded and stood up, and Konohamaru followed suit.

"Follow me." The older man stalked out of the tent and back into the cold. Ugh, his poor nose.

"I assume that you've been briefed on this assignment." Not as well as Konohamaru would've liked (he didn't even know that Kakashi was involved), but he nodded anyway. Their footfalls fell silently against the snow as soldiers saluted Kakashi as they passed. Their captain saluted back almost carelessly. "Nothing much has changed, but the rebels' depleting forces and rations have forced them to be more dependent on the missing-nin they've hired, and their specialties are psychological attacks and sabotage. Nothing we can't handle, but the soldiers have been suffering the brunt of it. But in this case, we are experiencing a very unusual type of genjutsu, hence my request for you to refresh on your training." They stopped outside a makeshift single-floor building, a small signage outside indicated that they had arrived at the camp's clinic.

Konohamaru could well imagine. Genjutsu even in its mildest form could be devastating to the weakest mind. Shinobi had to train for years to detect it and fight it off. Its effects on civilians and ordinary people would be at least ten times worse. A very talented ninja could drive an ordinary man insane within five seconds. The thought made him shudder.

The first thing he noted inside the clinic was the silence. The whole place was lined with cots, all filled with soldiers who looked up blankly into nothing. They didn't blink nor move, as if they were caught frozen in time. It was unnerving, and frankly quite creepy. It reminded Konohamaru like a morgue peopled with the living dead.

He'd never seen genjutsu affect people on like this before.

The silence was shattered when one patient suddenly reared up screaming like animal, trying to claw his way out of his restraints. Nurses were quick to converge on him to supply the necessary drugs, but it took some effort before the man went back to his waking coma once again.

Kakashi watched the whole scene in his customary poker face. Then again, his face was half-covered so that wasn't much of a feat. "As you can see, we're dealing with something a little unusual here." he said. He opened the door to an adjoining room. "Come on. Time to see the doctor."

They approached a familiar pink-haired jounin who was pressing down a chakra-illuminated hand on another thrashing man, his mouth agape in a silent scream. Undeterred, the woman pressed on until the light completely faded into the patient. After a while, the thrashing ceased and the woman let go.

"That should keep him calm for the next two hours." Sakura announced, as she wiped her forehead. She wanted to sound reassuring, but her face was worried. She looked up to the newcomers. "Captain," she said by way of greeting. Like Kakashi, she wore her usual jounin uniform, with the exception of a bright red armband around her left arm, which signalled her rank as a medic-nin.

"Doctor." Kakashi said mildly. She looked at him suspiciously, and then smiled at Konohamaru.

"How are you doing, Konohamaru?" she greeted, as she stood and hugged him tightly. "It's good to see you." Like Kakashi, Sakura seemed tired but mustered enough energy to greet him warmly.

"Sakura-senpai." Konohamaru shouldn't be surprised that she would be the other jounin assigned here, but he was surprised anyway. "I'm good, thanks for asking."

"We'll catch up later." Kakashi scratched his head. "If we may have a word, Doctor?"

Sakura nodded and ushered the two men into her office, although it was more of a laboratory than anything else. Like Kakashi's desk, Sakura's workspace was in a state of controlled chaos, notes and literature Konohamaru had to shift several books to one side of the room's small couch so he could take a seat. The Captain decided to remain standing.

"I was just bringing our friend here up to speed with what's happening." Kakashi began. He shifted in his position, one eye fixed on the medic-nin. "I was hoping you could fill in the details."

Sakura pushed the hair out of her eyes. "It's still more of the same, actually." she said quietly. "The victims are all showing symptoms of genjutsu, but despite the traditional ways of dispelling and disruption, all they get are a few hours of relief and the nightmares start again. So far we hope we can keep the insanity at bay with my skills and medicine, but we're running out of time"

Unending nightmares. It would be like seeing his grandfather die in front of his eyes over and over again. He did not envy the victims.

"My theory is that somehow the missing-nin implanted chakra into the victims. I've done a few tests, but nothing conclusive as of yet." she looked very tired and careworn.

Kakashi blew out an impatient breath. "The daimyo won't send us more men unless we figure out what's wrong with the ones already here."

"So you've told me before, but I'm sorry, I'm doing my best." she said testily.

"Do better." Kakashi said curtly.

"Will that be all?" Sakura asked, green eyes looking pointedly at the door.

"I thought I told you to take that armband off." Kakashi said in a low voice. "It identifies you too quickly to enemy forces." Konohamaru suddenly wanted to be anywhere else but that sofa.

"Why don't YOU take that scarf off? It's an obnoxious bright red too." Sakura snapped back, irritated.

"Well, it's cold. And I'm captain." he sounded strangely petulant. He almost sounded like he was going to say, _and I do what I want._

"I need the armband so the soldiers can recognize me immediately. It lessens the panic. I told you this already."

Seeing as neither of her visitors made a move to the door, she decided to leave herself. Unseen by her, the Captain reached out to touch the tail ends of the red armband that fluttered behind her briefly before he let it slip from his fingers. "I thought it would be prudent," Kakashi said in a softer tone.

"I see. Is that why Konohamaru is here?" they had arrived in the tent just in time as Sakura swivelled to Kakashi and himself. "You brought him out here for a babysitting assignment?" Something unspoken, that the fact that he was chunin was in the air, hung in the air unsaid. It was a bit insulting, but he understood, coming from Sakura. She could heal ten men in the field in the middle of a crossfire, easy. Honestly, she didn't need his help.

What was going on? It was weird to see anyone talk to the legendary Copy Nin like this, but Sakura did it anyway, as she crossed her arms and glowered.

"I've received intel that they have a kill-on-sight order on you." Kakashi replied calmly. "Their genjutsus are something else, and they would hate to waste it on pesky medic-nins trying to undo it like a bad hangover. Konohamaru here," he gestured, as if he'd remembered the boy's presence for the first time, "will ensure that your back is watched, your chakra not running dangerously low, and that you get to focus on the task at hand. He's no medic-nin like you, but he'll do."

Konohamaru bristled at this, but said nothing.

Sakura's expression was similar: annoyed. "I can take care of myself, thanks very much, Captain."

"Okay!" to his relief, Kakashi was smiling easily again. "As long as you insist on wearing that armband, Konohamaru will be around! See ya!" and with a poof of smoke, he was gone.

"ARRRRGH!" for the first time since he arrived, Konohamaru was treated to a sight of the old Sakura. She kicked a pile of books on the floor over in a fit of ill temper, sending it flying. She stared furiously at the spot where Kakashi had been. "Who does he think he is?!"

"Ummm...he's the Captain...?" Konohamaru weakly suggested.

"I KNOW HE'S THE CAPTAIN! I'M NOT AN IDIOT!" Sakura raged. This is why this woman terrifies me, Konohamaru thought to himself.

"Ohhhh-kay." he was inching his way slowly out of the door now. "Anyway, senpai, I just arrived and I have to get some rest isitokayifigonow?" the woman was scary!

"Fine." Sakura was still fuming, he could tell. "I'll see you later, I guess."

* * *

Konohamaru woke up from his sleep. The stalemate between the two warring factions seemed to afford him more rest than he was used to. He stretched out and yawned, and blinked sleepily. He had been housed in the barracks with the rest of the soldiers, but seeing as most of them were out of commission in the clinic, the place was empty.

He glanced out the window. It was still snowing. Better bundle up. As he bent down to retrieve his warm clothing strewn on the floor, he sensed movement in the snow. The two shinobi he was talking to earlier walked past his window, any signs of their fight earlier seemingly forgotten. Konohamaru thought he probably shouldn't, but he couldn't help but listen in.

"Do you see anything?" Sakura asked Kakashi softly, as he covered up his Sharingan again.

"No."

"There has to be way for the genjutsu to bury itself so deep in so little time, with such minimal contact." Sakura sighed. She walked a few steps in front of Kakashi, and Konohamaru noted that his face looked...sad as he stared at the back of Sakura's head.

"Sakura..."

"Yes?"

"Won't you take that armband off? It makes me nervous." the Captain's voice was surprisingly gentle.

"Oh." she had already forgotten the argument earlier. "Captain, I can't. On the field, when they start feeling the effects of genjutsu, they need a visual stimulus to hang on something real. For some reason, red works really well."

He shook his head. "The fact that we don't know the missing-nin we're dealing with here...that's an unnecessary risk you're taking."

Sakura laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Have you forgotten that I have pink hair? I'll stand out anyway." she paused. "I'm not used to you fussing over me, Captain." if Kakashi said anything, Konohamaru couldn't hear it. Instead, he heard Sakura sigh and give up.

"Fine." she walked over, and removed her armband. She took Kakashi's hand and made his fingers fold over the red piece of cloth. She put her hands over his, pensive. "Just promise me that you'll return it when this is all over."

What a weirdly-charged moment. One minute fighting to the teeth, the next, sentimental and sad. If Konohamaru didn't know any better, it was almost like they were together...although that wasn't possible. Sakura-senpai was with Naruto...wasn't she?

He suddenly heard Sakura gasp. "It's the snow!" she yelled. In a flash she had burst into the barracks and charged straight to Konohamaru. "You! Stop spying on us and come with me!"

"Senpai, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Serves you right for eavesdropping." she grumbled, practically dragging him along. Kakashi stood there, looking bemused.

"Got a breakthrough, Doctor?" he called out easily.

"Just an idea."

* * *

She dumped a pile of folders on Konohamaru's arms. "This," she said , plopping down on the opposite side of the desk. "Are the files of the soldiers that have been affected by the mysterious genjutsu, as well as when they were last involved in a skirmish with enemy troops. I need you to take note when they started showing symptoms. Start cross-checking the dates with the weather on that day. If any patterns come out, let me know."

"I'm not sure if I follow, senpai..." Konohamaru began as Sakura thrust a pad and pen in his direction.

"I wasn't looking underneath the underneath," she said, as if that answered the question. She tied her hair up with a ribbon, a determined look on her face. Without looking up from her texts, she continued: "I suspected that our mysterious missing-nin enemy was from Kirigakure, and that somehow he or she was using the snowfall for his genjutsu, but that didn't make any sense. Genjutsu requires the shinobi to be physically present, even if the medium used are elements. He or she couldn't have maintained this hold for so long without getting killed themselves by running themselves dry on chakra." Konohamaru already knew this, but Sakura was clearly talking to him now as a sounding board.

"From what we know, the missing-nin is definitely in the castle, which cancels out your typical genjutsu. But the snowfall...we thought they triggered it as a defensive strategy, but it might've been their offensive all along..."

The medic-nin trailed off, lost in her own thoughts as she hurried out to get a sample of the snow outside. No more words were exchanged as the night deepened.

* * *

In the span of twelve hours, Sakura had managed to procure an antidote to wake the soldiers up. Konohamaru was able to draw up the charts and pointed out some possible patterns, and Sakura took his work without comment and proceeded to shoo him away from her office. When he woke up again, she had already created the antidote.

That was Sakura Haruno for you. Creating antidotes like she was just tasked to make a cup of tea.

There was a bustle of activity as soldiers began to shake themselves off from their waking nightmares. They all had glazed looks on their faces, but none looked worse for wear. He supposed the constant monitoring also helped stem the tide of insanity, but it would take some time before they would be ready to go into battle again.

"Did she really have to administer the antidote herself...now she's just showing off..." Konohamaru muttered as his eyes followed the pink-haired medic-nin around.

"You should be more careful where you complain, Konohamaru." Kakashi's voice said behind him, making him jump. "You never know who's listening."

"C-captain!" before he could explain himself, Sakura was already bounding towards them.

"Captain! I'm glad you're here." she said cheerfully, manic, clearly running on the miracle of caffeine alone. "As you can see, the antidote is working wonderfully!" she almost sounded like a student eager to please her sensei all over again.

"Good job, Doctor, but I would've appreciated if you briefed me on this development first." Kakashi replied, as he smiled back to the pink-haired girl. He looked at the waking soldiers. "I suggest you let the nurses handle this. I need the two of you in my office right now."

The two were quick to comply as they followed the Copy Nin back into his room. Once safely ensconced inside, he crossed his arms and looked at Sakura. "You look like you're about to pass out." he sounded amused. "I'd appreciate it if you told me what that brilliant brain of yours figured out first, if you don't mind."

Sakura nodded and smiled dreamily. "The snow is poison." she said.

"Excuse me?"

"I was thinking...if the missing-nin was using the snow all this time, but not for the reasons we thought." Sakura shook her head. "The manufactured snow is mixed with some sort of compound that's absorbed through your skin, which bypasses the Chakra Armor altogether. The poison itself doesn't show any symptoms, and not technically even poison, per se. However, once absorbed, it retains the caster's chakra, which allows the genjutsu to attach itself to its victim long after the person who performed it is gone."

Sakura collapsed on one seat, clearly exhausted. "The antidote is just to get the compound out. Once it's out, the genjutsu is broken. But I'm concerned, Captain..."

Kakashi nodded seriously. "This is a very unusual way to use chakra."

"Yes." Sakura saw Konohamaru's confused look. "Based on the depth of the genjutsu, the relatively short time he used to dispatch these soldiers who are trained against this sort of thing, and the hold he has on them makes me think that we're not dealing with an ordinary sort of missing-nin here."

"He seemed to have found a way to weaponize his chakra in such a way that it attaches itself to its victims like a parasite." Kakashi continued on Sakura's behalf. "It's extraordinary that he has this kind of hold when he is not even physically present on the field, not for significant periods of time, at least. To keep up this kind of thrall, he's expending too much chakra, so he should be dead by now."

"But he's still alive." Sakura concluded.

"He's still alive." Kakashi agreed. "Either by some miracle or he has a Sharingan, or he has a tailed beast inside him, which I highly doubt." He had walked back to his desk to mull over the documents spread all over it. "It's been a few days since the last skirmish...and I think it's time to make our move."

"But the soldiers need time to recover..." Konohamaru began.

"We're doing this without them." Kakashi said as he straightened again. Sakura stared at the Captain, brows furrowed as she stood up slowly. All signs of exhaustion were suddenly gone from the kunoichi, which called to mind what Konohamaru heard about her learning about chakra reserves from the Hokage. Kakashi looked at her and added, "He'll have figured out what you've done, so we don't have much time. Report to me in an hour, geared up. Dismissed."

Sakura and Konohamaru saluted and left the tent without another word.

* * *

Konohamaru hurried to catch up with Sakura. "So, that was it?" he asked.

Sakura glanced at him, slightly annoyed. "That was what?"

"What's the plan, senpai?"

"I'm sorry, were you just sleeping in at that meeting or...?" she huffed impatiently, a clear indicator that she was not to suffer fools right then.

"That's not fair, senpai. You and the Captain have been working together for so long, it's like you have a creepy mental connection or something..."_ or just mental_, he added silently to himself. "I'm supposed to help you here, but I can't do that unless I know what's going on."

She looked doubtful. "The Captain will brief both of us in an hour, can't you wait until then?"

"I really want to know!" he said, a little louder than intended, which caused the jounin to stop in her tracks. She really looked like she was about to hit him for raising her voice at her, but changed her mind.

"Hmpf...I guess that's why the Captain called for you..." she muttered, crossing her arms. "You are really like him..."

She meant Naruto, of course. Konohamaru hadn't seen him for months.

"Alright, then." she conceded. "I don't like breaking rank because I don't want to get a word in before the Captain does...but I think we're dealing with a bigger threat here than anyone realizes. This is a fight for shinobi, not for ordinary soldiers."

"The missing-nin..." Konohamaru breathed. The fact that enemy soldiers hadn't stirred from within the confines of the castle for a few days clicked in his head. "Do you think it has something to do with the enemy soldiers?"

"I think it has everything to do with the enemy soldiers." Sakura said as she lowered her voice. "I think they might be dead, and the missing-nin somehow used their chakra to augment his own." she just barely managed to hold back a shudder. "Konohamaru-chan, I'm telling you this because there's really no way to prepare for this kind of enemy. Only someone soulless and inhuman would do something like this...tch, it's practically cannibalism! What I mean is...it's not going to be pretty, and you should be ready."

He was pretty scared now at Sakura's dark expression. But she probably noticed this and forced herself to smile. She put one small hand on his shoulder, but he sensed the strength behind it. "Let's just do our best, okay? We have Kakashi to back us up, and he's not the famous Copy Nin for nothing."

She sounded so confident and trusting (she was a bit like Naruto too, he realized), so there was nothing else but to put faith in her, too.

* * *

After a quick succession of hand signals, Konohamaru was gratified to see what used to be invisible seals light up in a second and burn out of the darkened corridor.

The Captain acknowledged his efforts with a brief pat on his shoulder as he scanned the rest of the way with his exposed Sharingan. Konohamaru was pretty sure that was the last of the booby traps, but one couldn't be too sure.

Finally, Kakashi signaled the go-ahead.

The three were wading in an abandoned tunnel which used to be an escape route for the castle's previous lords who used to live there. The place was unstable due to its old age and partially flooded with melted snow, which was the reason why it hadn't been used until then. What had seemed to be a straightforward mission to quell a rebellion had turned out to be much more. But, based on Team 7's history, this was standard fare.

Sakura silently trailed behind them, her green eyes watchful and her fists at the ready. She had administered a stronger version of the antidote on both of them earlier, although Kakashi had loudly declared he had no need for it. Sakura had almost broken rank and kicked his ass over it, but in the end, the Captain agreed.

After what seemed an eternity of wading through ice-cold water, the tunnel began to slope upward, and they came upon a small door. "Well, that was easy." Konohamaru said, surprised. No other traps lay in wait for the whole time they were walking.

"Sakura, this door is too small. Knock it down." Kakashi ordered. The older ninja seemed to sense Konohamaru's confusion at this instruction, and smiled. "There's no need for sneakiness at this point, Konohamaru. The enemy is clearly waiting for us. Now, stand back."

Once they were safely at a distance, they watched as Sakura drew an arm back and knocked down the door and part of the wall attached to it. She cocked her head back to them. "After you, Captain." she said.

They clambered out into a gigantic hall, and despite Sakura's words to him earlier, Konohamaru could not have been prepared for the carnage that greeted him.

Hundreds of men lay on the floor, their bodies mauled and mutilated as thick dark blood oozed down from their gaping wounds. If not for their faces, he could hardly tell that they used to be human, and not a confusion of limbs and torsos. Their eyes had the same glazed, horrified look that echoed the ones of the soldiers back at their encampment when they were in the thrall of the genjutsu. Konohamaru squeezed his eyes shut, tried to deny what he was seeing, but forced them open again.

"Look out!" Sakura's voice brought him back into reality. Somehow the older girl had thrown herself in front of him, her pink brushing his face. Angry green eyes bored into his as a trickle of blood fell from her mouth. "Dammit, Konohamaru!" she spat out before her image fizzled, and a boulder embedded with kunai fell in front of him.

His knees shook as he shifted backward. Kakashi looked grim as he cast a disapproving eye to the younger shinobi. "Keep an eye out, Konohamaru. Sakura," he called out to the medic-nin, and Konohamaru found that she had not moved from her original position. "Check for survivors."

Somewhere, someone was laughing. "It's too late for that...Kakashi of the Sharingan."

As he laughed, the dark figured straightened from one of the bodies, from which he seemed to be feeding. Konohamaru's stomach twisted as the missing-nin turned towards them, oily black hair matted around an ashen-grey face, fangs lining his mouth, his chin dark and wet with fresh blood. His body was bulky, but seemed to be sagging to the ground, as if it were melting. He wore a hitai-ate, which finally identified him as a missing-nin of the disbanded Yukigakure.

Dark eyes found its way to Sakura. "And you brought me a treat. The medic-nin who figured out my ploy. Just when I was having fun."

A look of shock crossed the woman's face. "Hideko Ikeda." she breathed. Konohamaru had no idea who that was, but Kakashi seemed to know. "But...why?!"

"Ahh, Sakura-chan, we medic-nins always seem to get the worst of it, don't we?" the missing-nin identified as Hideko roughly wiped his chin with one hand. "Always looking out for others without minding our own backs...and then thrown aside when we don't have much use anymore."

"I'm not sure how Yukigakure's disbanding brought you down to this kind of depravity," Kakashi said calmly, both eyes now fixed on Hideko. "I thought you were one of the best in the field, and helped others as much as you could."

"Yukigakure...bah! Who cares for those idiots!" Hideko must've been left to seclusion for too long, Konohamaru reflected, to be so eager to even have a conversation like this in the first place. "I was on the breakthrough on my chakra research...much like you, Sakura-chan." Sakura blanched at being even compared to this monster, but said nothing. "Taking the dying's chakra to save the lives of the living! It would change everything! But they didn't care..I gave so much of my life to my research..." here, Hideko grinned. "And now for the first time, I'm going to make use of it."

"The dying's chakra is too unstable to be harvested and used, Hideko! Everyone knows that!" Sakura yelled angrily.

But the missing-nin simply smiled.

With a mighty crash, Hideko had extended one arm and swept several bodies towards the three ninja. All three managed to jump out of the way, but Konohamaru felt the sickening splat of random internal organs and blood all over his uniform. He let several kunai fly towards Hideko, but before they found home, the missing-nin had disappeared.

"Behind you." someone laughed. Konohamaru's eyes widened as he saw Hideko raise a syringe to stab him...

Only to be deterred by a powerful blow to the face by Sakura, who had appeared out of nowhere. The missing-nin fell to the ground with a loud crash. The two landed on their feet with a dull thud. "Dammit, Konohamaru, you're supposed to be watching my back! Not the other way around!" Sakura yelled at him.

Before Konohamaru had time to reply, the blood pooled around the hall began to fly up spatters, and quickly formed into a whirlpool, and then into what seemed to be a gigantic hand. It reached out and grabbed Sakura's throat.

"Senpai!" Konohamaru tried to slice the hand apart with his kunai, to no avail, as it harmlessly sliced through thick liquid. Another hand had formed to grab him by the neck as well. The sound of birds caught his attention when he saw that Kakashi had summoned Chidori to directly attack Hideko. The missing-nin had managed to avoid it, just barely, but it was enough to distract him to release Sakura.

Sakura choked out a disbelieving cry as she landed hard on her feet. "He's using the blood of the dead...!"

Konohamaru thought quickly. Hideko must've figured out a way to retain the dying's chakra and concentrated them in a closed circuit via chakra's physical network, which was blood. That was how he was able to manipulate the blood and use it as a weapon. There had to be a way to break the circuit or at least disrupt Hideko's access to the excess chakra...!

The Captain and Hideko were now engaged in hand-to-hand combat, with Kakashi's hands illuminated with the crackling lightning. Hideko was smiling, clearly enjoying himself.

"I'm working under the impression that you have very limited chakra reserves, Kakashi." Hideko was saying as he parried another blow. "Just imagine the possibilities of using the dead and the dying's chakra...despite what we've been taught otherwise!"

"Don't you ever-stop-talking?!" Kakashi grunted, as he was rewarded by a satisfying hit to the missing-nin's stomach, the skin giving way as his hand sliced through. But the satisfaction was short-lived as Hideko's skin began to heal rapidly around Kakashi's hand, which caused the Chidori to cease.

"What the hell...?!" Konohamaru yelled. Hideko's body began to mutate and expand, as the ashen skin began to take over Kakashi's arm. It also seemed to sap Kakashi's energy, as the Captain's shoulders began to bend over and sag.

"Konohamaru, catch Kakashi! And whatever you do, keep him safe!" Sakura yelled and before he could even absorb her words, Sakura had already leapt in the fray. She planted her feet firmly on Hideko's shoulders, facing Kakashi, and with a yell, forced a hand in Hideko's mouth, and pulled half of the man's head off, as blood and brains flew everywhere. With that, she gripped the Captain's arm and pulled it free as she tossed him to the waiting Konohamaru.

Sakura skidded on the blood-slick floor as she watched Hideko rapidly regenerate. Kakashi on the other hand was unconscious, and Konohamaru sensed the low ebb of the older man's chakra.

Konohamaru watched in a mixture of terror and fascination as Sakura and Hideko fiercely engaged in battle. Sakura was able to place some well-aimed punches and throws, punctuated with shuriken and senbon. However, the man simply absorbed them and reformed himself to adapt to her attacks. He could feel Sakura's growing frustration, and that she was slowly getting tired.

It was only a matter of time before Hideko's attention went back to her two comrades. Without preamble, he reached out to send flying spears of solidified blood their way. Sakura just had enough time to throw a boulder in their direction, followed by her physically protecting them with her body.

She knelt in front of Konohamaru, green eyes wide with concern and pain as she looked at him and the Captain. "Are you guys alright...?"

"Senpai! Watch out!"

Hideko had mounted the same attack again, but Sakura was ready for him. She immediately formed hand signs and the air around Konohamaru shimmered. The blood spears wavered, doubting in Sakura's genjutsu, and the chunin took it as an opportunity to form a seal that would hide him and the Captain underground.

He sensed the ground shake as Sakura charged Hideko again and again, throwing punches into the missing-nin's body. Once or twice Hideko tried to trap her arms in the same way he trapped the Captain's, but Sakura was quick and strong enough to pull them out again before any significant amount of chakra was drained from her.

Blood had soaked the ground and began to drip in the niche he and the Captain were hiding in. With a loud crack, the ground split open above them. Konohamaru glimpsed Hideko's smiling visage as blood-formed hands dove in to retrieve them.

"No!" Sakura screamed as she dove in between them, protecting them with her body yet again. The hands grabbed her neck and threw her aside, but it was enough time for Konohamaru to escape from the death trap.

Shit, this was just becoming a game of cat-and-mouse. He could join in the fight but he couldn't risk the Captain left vulnerable in his state. All he could do for now was evade as best as he could and not to get into physical contact with Hideko. But the blood was everywhere, and he couldn't escape it. The moment that he made contact with it, Kakashi draped over his shoulder, more hands grabbed his ankles, which forced him to drop the Copy Nin.

The Captain fell heavily into a pool of blood, which slowly began to climb up his body. It began invading his ears and eyes, and Kakashi began to scream.

"No! Stop it!" Sakura screamed as she struggled up. The blood was slowly creeping up her body as well, tiny tendrils of vine that tightened up her arms and legs. Konohamaru struggled to move, but found that the same vines were making their way up his body. Paralyzed, he was horrified to feel his chakra slowly drained out of his body.

Kakashi was still screaming, a gut-twisting sound.

"What are you going to do, Sakura?" Hideko said in a horrid gurgling voice as his form reshaped itself. "But I just got fresh chakra from a very powerful shinobi...are you sure you want to cross me? Better yet, why don't you join me...I'm in need of a smart apprentice. You only saw a fraction of what my discovery can do."

"Please...stop it! Stop hurting him!"

"The dying's chakra is an untapped potential. Surely, you must see that." Hideko grinned.

"I have." Sakura said. She raised her face and Konohamaru was surprised to see that she was crying freely, and tears ran streaks down her blood-stained face. "And I've seen enough."

She raised a syringe that Konohamaru recognized was what Hideko tried to strike him with earlier. Hideko also recognized this as his eyes widened. "And to defeat you, I see that I have to become you." and with that, she injected the syringe in her neck.

The effect was instantaneous. Whatever the compound was, it allowed Sakura access to the chakra trapped in the blood. She slammed her fist down on the floor and the blood formed itself into a hundred shards that flew towards Hideko. The missing-nin was able to evade them as Sakura rapidly formed a seal in blood. Konohamaru watched in horror as blood-red chakra threads flew from her fingers as dead men began to rise, their bodies re-forming, to attack Hideko.

She was using Hitomi Goku. But as far as Konohamaru knew, this technique usually made use of whole bodies, and not mutilated ones. But the compound she injected into herself apparently also lent control to some sort of mutation that extended to the victims' limbs via the enhanced chakra threads and the blood network, the same mutation that allowed Hideko to recover from being torn apart.

Hideko was cackling gleefully. "Very good, Sakura! Wonderful!" his praises were rewarded by a vicious blow to the back from a flying tanto. He responded in kind as he suddenly appeared in front of her and bit down viciously into her neck, which made her scream in pain. Her macabre puppets were able to get him off, and he disappeared into the darkness.

Kakashi began to stir beside Konohamaru. Before he could speak, blood-formed vines sprouted everywhere-from the ground and from the ceiling, which sent debris down their way. Konohamaru was just able to get them into a more secure location as they narrowly avoided the onslaught. The vines were able to destroy or pin down Sakura's puppets, and the kunoichi herself managed to avoid death narrowly as well.

She recalled the chakra threads from the puppets and swivelled in place. Konohamaru could see that she had a crazed smile on her face. It was like she was a woman possessed, and a shiver ran through Konohamaru's spine. She was enjoying her newfound power. "This is over!" she yelled as she swiped both hands in front of her, chakra threads flying.

The missing-nin suddenly slammed down in front of her, body held down by what seemed to be hundreds of chakra threads running throughout his body. He seemed uninjured, save for a trickle of blood from the side of his mouth.

"Heh...you used the chakra threads for your offensive after all," Hideko sneered. "And nothing left unaccounted for...I can feel you everywhere, Sakura-chan...on my heart, my chakra network, on my liver, hell even on my lungs. Can't say I like it."

Sakura's face was merciless. Her fingers contracted, which sent a spasm of pain straight to Hideko's heart. He yelled in agony.

"Die." Sakura said coldly.

"What are they going to say if they found out what you did with your great healing technique...?" Hideko went on as he spasmed again. He grinned at the kunoichi. "You and I...we're the same, after all."

Her fingers twitched. "Die." Sakura repeated.

Hideko kept on laughing. Something broke in Sakura.

"DIE! NOW!"

But before she could tear Hideko's heart apart completely, Kakashi was behind her, had wrapped his arms around the medic-nin.

"Stop it." the Copy Nin said softly.

She froze.

"Stop it, Sakura." Kakashi repeated, as his arms tightened. It was not an order.

Sakura's body went slack as the chakra threads fell loose and dissolved into nothingness. She stared in shock as Hideko had managed to laugh before he emitted a death rattle and finally lay still.

Kakashi didn't let go as Sakura gripped his forearms fiercely. They stood this way for a long moment before Konohamaru finally found the courage to approach them.

"Captain...? Senpai...?"

Kakashi finally let go of the kunoichi and regarded the dead Hideko coldly. He turned back to Sakura, as he wordlessly took out her red armband and tied it around her arm. She looked down at it pensively, a reminder of who she was.

"Let's go, Doctor." Kakashi said gently.

She shook her head. She seemed to be gathering her resolve up for something. "Captain, I have to take care of the body..." she finally said, her mind on the mission still. Yukigakure was no more, and no hunter-nin was going to claim this body...this body that held so many horrifying secrets. Secrets of which Sakura was now the reluctant keeper.

Kakashi looked like he was going to argue but he didn't. He simply nodded and crossed his arms. "I'll wait until you're done." he said, finally. He looked at Konohamaru. "I need you to get back to camp and tell them that it's over, and that we'll be back in a few hours. You don't need to get into the specifics, just wait until I come back."

"Yes, Captain." He understood that Kakashi didn't want to leave Sakura alone.

Kakashi turned his back and began to walk towards Sakura. Without wasting another moment, Konohamaru began the slow trek back to camp.

* * *

This is dedicated to my dear friend Laikaken because she bullied me into finishing it! Basically!

So far, this chapter is the furthest "in the future" and things will be explained, expanded and clarified. We will see this Kakashi and Sakura again, and I'm sorry if taking the POV of Konohamaru made it a bit confusing. I have been literally working on this for a month, after challenging myself to make a chapter as "shounen" as I could, and to add a little darkness in Sakura which doesn't involve Sasuke (ugh) or sexual assault (double ugh). If I don't post it now I don't think I ever will because…words, they are difficult sometimes. So please forgive the mistakes or if the jutsus or whatever don't exactly meld with canon.

Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed it, and do please leave a review! I hope you have enjoyed your holidays. I'm on the last few days of my vacation, so I'm whipping up new chapters in a panicked frenzy (I've been sooooo lazy, gross)!


	10. Drown

**Drown**  
_No matter where you are_  
_I can still hear you when you drown_

* * *

Sakura woke up with a pair of paws on her face.

More specifically, the infamous soft-padded and pink paws of Pakkun, on her face

"Sakura. Oi, Sakura." the little dog said, huge brown eyes blinking down on her.

She rubbed her eyes, and took a second to gain her bearings. She was in her bedroom, and based on the room temperature and the lack of sunlight, it was very early morning indeed. "Pakkun...?" she muttered sleepily. "What's wrong?"

"Bull's bleeding." the miniature pug said shortly before jumping off her bed. The announcement awakened Sakura and made her sit up immediately. She followed the pug's footsteps across her apartment, carefully padding among the other sleeping ninken who took up residence on her floor.

She finally reached Bull and true to Pakkun's word, the great dog's left hind leg was bleeding profusely from a gash that she had patched up earlier. Sakura felt a twinge of conscience when she saw her earlier attempt at patching up Bull had not gone well. It didn't help that the bulldog was looking at her with big, watery eyes.

"Oh Bull." she sighed as she knelt next to the black dog. The bandage was now quite soaked with blood. "I'm sorry. Are you sure you don't want to go to Hana's?" she searched his face hopefully.

The bulldog shook his head in a definite no.

"Bull doesn't get along with Hana's ninken." Pakkun explained as he settled near Sakura's knees. She had heard this excuse last night, but Sakura had underestimated the bulldog's...well, the bulldog's bull-headedness. At fourteen, she was well on her way to a proper medical training alongside her physical training, but for the most part she was still unsure of her skills. She was pretty sure she wasn't ready for treating neither animals nor ninken, but somehow Pakkun and the others didn't seem to think it was an impediment in their treatment.

Sakura took a cursory glance around to check on the other sleeping dogs. Thankfully, they had all arrived at the apartment with no major injuries save for Bull, who had taken the brunt of the fight. The others hadn't all been too forthcoming with what kind of fight they'd been through exactly, but then again, they weren't Kakashi's summons for nothing. Their attitudes towards medical treatment (and giving explanations on how they got their injuries) were very poor and mirrored Kakashi's exactly.

She procured fresh bandages from a nearby drawer and touched the nearest ninken, who unfortunately was Urushi, the unfriendliest of the lot. He awoke with a cranky growl, but this did not deter Sakura. "Urushi, can you please put some pressure on Bull's wound?" she spread a bandage over the bleeding. Urushi complied without much comment as he laid two paws over Bull's injury.

She pushed herself off the floor. "Alright. Please don't move too much, Bull." she instructed as she made her way to the kitchen. She put the kettle on to heat some water, and went through her drawers for fresh bandages. She was in a hurry to get everything that she almost stepped on Pakkun, who had followed her in.

"Ahh-Sorry about that!" she cried as stepped backwards hastily. Pakkun seemed totally unperturbed and even scratched his head using one of his hind legs.

"Sakura-chan, are you visiting Kakashi today?" he asked in the deep voice of his.

She set about to sterilizing the tools that she'd need for Bull's laceration. Sakura had attempted to close the wound entirely by chakra alone last night, but it was clear that it wasn't enough due to her relative inexperience. "Yes, of course."

"How is he?"

"He's going to be out of it for a little while, but he's gonna make it." Sakura sat down on the kitchen table. Watched sterilization never boiled, after all. "You gotta tell him to take it easy, Pakkun. He's not as young as he used to be."

"What do you mean? He's only twenty-eight." the little dog nimbly jumped up the table to face her.

"You know what I mean." Sakura absently scratched Pakkun behind his ear. It was probably a sign of Pakkun's trust in her that he let her. In fact, he actually seemed a bit pleased, if only by the slight ease of his ever-present frown on his tiny face.

Kakashi's pack of ninken surprised her last night with their arrival. Pakkun, the designated spokesman of the pack, explained that they had just arrived from a mission with Kakashi and if they may please crash in her apartment for a while. The mission was classified but Kakashi had to be taken to the hospital. His last instruction was to for the dogs to go straight to Sakura's house to get checked on and rest, and that's what his ninken did. Apparently, Kakashi forgot to further instruct them to do whatever Sakura asked them to do, hence this rather difficult situation with Bull and his unwillingness to get proper medical attention from fully-trained veterinary medic-nin.

"Maybe we can just call Hana-san and bring her here?" Sakura suggested hopefully.

Pakkun shook his head again. "Bull doesn't want to trouble anyone."

_Except me_, Sakura thought, slightly exasperated. She withdrew her hand from Pakkun's head and went to check on her suturing kit. Satisfied that they were sterilized and ready for use, she proceeded to wash her hands thoroughly, dried them, and snapped the standard medical gloves on.

She marched back to her living room with her warm water and tools. Urushi, more compliant now, quickly scooted off to one side as Sakura settled next to Bull. She conjured a bit of chakra and concentrated on numbing the area that needed to be sutured. It still felt a little strange, using chakra as a sort of an inner eye, seeing the network of nerves and veins as she worked energy around it, but she liked it.

Satisfied that she had anesthetized the concerned area, Sakura set about to suturing Bull's wound. She found that she took to learning medicine fairly quickly, as it required a specific kind of concentration and book-smarts that she hadn't exercised since leaving the Academy.

Pakkun padded next to her as she began suturing. All the other dogs had fallen asleep, and even Bull himself looked as if he was about to doze off himself. Apropos of nothing, the miniature pug spoke up again. "Can you please bring him a change of clothes and his...uh, reading material at the hospital? He likes wearing his own stuff when he's confined, and we dogs aren't allowed inside."

"Yes, Mommy." Sakura joked gently. It amused her to see the tiny dog to be such a mother hen towards a person like Kakashi.

Pakkun nodded, satisfied and finally settled down the ground. He watched her suture Bull for a little while before he spoke up again. "How are you these days, Sakura?"

"I've been fine, Pakkun, thanks for asking." She was already four stitches in. She was glad that at least her anesthesia had held on pretty well. Bull was practically asleep.

"It's just that we haven't seen you for a while."

"That's because you guys only go here when you need something." she chided gently.

"Do you still use the same shampoo as me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course not! Switched to another brand the next day you mentioned it."

"Hey, I don't do the grocery shopping. Kakashi must've liked the smell to have picked it up." There was a hint of amusement in Pakkun's deep voice now.

"Typical men. Can't even be bothered to check out other fragrances." Sakura heaved an all-suffering sigh. She giggled at the mental image of Kakashi at the grocery, unscrewing shampoo bottles and sniffing each and every one fussily. It was nice that Pakkun was asking her about her life, though. It rather felt like old times. She was closing up now, and set about to adhere the tissue using tools and chakra together.

She would've been happy to let sleeping dogs lie-so to speak-if she hadn't noticed Pakkun's tail wagging...worryingly. She hazarded a guess:

"Do you wanna come along with me to see Kakashi tomorrow, Pakkun?" she asked quietly as she surveyed her work along Bull's leg. She noticed that the rest of the ninken suddenly raised their ears in interest. "Sorry, just Pakkun!" she apologized. They immediately went back to pretending to sleep.

"Well, I suppose if you can smuggle me in..." the pug sniffed.

Sakura gently nudged Bull. "How does it feel, Bull?" she asked.

Bull lowered his head to sniff experimentally at his fresh bandages, and then nodded. "It's fine," Pakkun translated for him. "He'll just need to rest."

"Good." Sakura began to gather up her kit. She glanced at Pakkun, who was still quite awake unlike the others. "How bad was the mission, anyway? You seem quite worried."

"Well..." of course the little dog was reticent to say more than he already had. "It was...tricky. Kakashi usually doesn't like summoning us when he doesn't need to. Let's just say that on this occasion, he really needed to."

"Well...thanks for the non-answer, Pakkun." she tried not to show her annoyance, but what Pakkun said was something she already knew. But since he had taken time off from being a jounin-sensei, she sensed that Kakashi was being sent to more high-profile missions as of late. And high-profile meant danger, and danger meant him ending up in the hospital. At first, she had actually hoped that these A-rank missions were actually retrieval missions for Sasuke, but as time went on she was slowly disabused of those notions. Life did not start nor end with her former teammate, after all. As time went on, now, Sakura began to worry about her former teacher when he disappeared for long periods of time. When had he started to seem so vulnerable to her?

She pondered on this realization as she washed her hands and got ready to go back to bed. As she clambered back in between the sheets, she was struck with a memory from her genin days.

It was after that ridiculous cat retrieval mission, and they were on their way home. They had taken turns in carrying the cat in her cage, and it was her turn at that time of the day. Naruto and Sasuke had run off ahead, bickering as usual, and she was left alone with Kakashi-sensei, which was the norm those days. She stared longingly at the backs of her two teammates, always wanting in on the action, but never quite sure how to be.

Kakashi-sensei was rubbing a small scratch the cat had bestowed on his one exposed cheek. He did this absentmindedly, like he did most things, one gray eye staring blankly into the distance. He'd been doing that on and off since that damned animal scratched him, and it distracted her long enough to ask if he was alright.

The jounin simply chuckled and said, "If you ask that after every injury I get, you'll wear out that phrase pretty quickly."

That remark had seemed innocuous at the time. Truthfully, for Sakura, it had all seemed like a fun game in those days. She knew better, she did, but when you spent most days chasing down escaped pets, being a ninja didn't seem so bad. Or too difficult.

How wrong she was.

She stared at the ceiling, worrying. Always worrying, until sleep finally overcame her.

* * *

Sakura's day started early and thankfully, she woke up without Pakkun trailing paw prints all over her face. She had a quick breakfast surrounded by Kakashi-sensei's ninken. She stared at the dogs as they bent over their dog dishes, vaguely certain that she should feel slighted by this arrangement as Kakashi-sensei's glorified dog-sitter, but she couldn't seem to muster up enough feelings about it. Technically, he never even asked her, but then again, that was just Kakashi-sensei's way.

After breakfast, she made certain that all the dogs had water and food on standby, and that Bull's wound was healing nicely. The ninken accepted her fussiness without much comment, although Bisuke wanted to be babied a little bit, which was solved with an unearned-for treat. Satisfied that she would leave them all happy (though unattended) for most of the day, Sakura grabbed her bag and went, Pakkun at her heels.

It was a warm summer morning as she stepped out into the streets of Konoha. Tsunade-sama had left a few days ago on official Hokage business, but she made sure that she left Sakura with tasks that would fill up her time while she was gone. She walked briskly, past market stalls and familiar buildings, smiling at passers-by who couldn't help but coo at the sight of tiny Pakkun with his tiny hitai-ate and his tiny vest, and whoa! He talked too!

Finally, the pair reached Sakura's first stop of the day: the training grounds. In the distance, she could make out the matching bright green jumpsuits of Lee and Gai-sensei. Team Gai was already starting on their warmups when Sakura jogged over.

"Sakura-chan! Good morning!" Lee said happily as she approached. Tenten waved, smiling, and even Neji managed to give her a friendly nod. "And Pakkun!" Lee acknowledged the ninken. "Hello!"

"Good morning, everyone!" Sakura was glad that she was scheduled to train with Team Gai today, whom she felt the most comfortable with. She usually was handed from team to team on the occasion that Tsunade-sama was away. It made her feel bad at first, Team 7's orphan member butting in with everyone else, but eventually she found the unique experience fun in its way. Each team had their own dynamic, she learned a lot more, and she got to know the others the way she wouldn't have had if she still had her own team.

"Ah, Sakura-san, the morning is made more glorious by your presence!" Gai-sensei greeted enthusiastically. And then he made her do a hundred pushups.

Once the (rather tortuous) warm ups were done, Gai-sensei teamed her up with Neji to spar. The Hyuga bowed rather stiffly, his loosely-tied dark hair falling over his shoulder. She heard Tenten laugh in the distance at him, "Stupid, it's just Sakura," the girl teased, which earned a grumbled mutter from the boy. The kunoichi merely laughed again, and the exchange made Sakura's heart ache a bit. Neji and Tenten were dancing closely together in this strange, unnamed thing of affections, and although it was amusing and heartwarming to see, Sakura couldn't help but wonder: Could've this been her and Sasuke, if he stayed?

But that was neither here nor there. Neji gave her his full attention again. "I heard from Gai-sensei about Tsunade-sama teaching you her own techniques." he began. He raised his arms in the typical stance of the Gentle Fist, and the two began to circle each other slowly. "I have great respect for the Hokage, but frankly, I think for a medic-nin, her style is a little too confrontational."

This earned a grin from Sakura. "And what would you suggest, Neji-kun?"

"I think learning a bit of the Gentle Fist would be beneficial, Sakura-san. Or at least, the essence of our fighting style. You are one of Konoha's most promising medics, after all, and you'll need all the help you can get," he said seriously. She wondered if it was a typical Hyuga dig about how their fighting style was always superior or whatever. She supposed that he had a point. The Hyuga's fighting style was all about the flow, and using their opponent's energy against them. However, Sakura was loathe to admit it, as she felt it would be disloyal to her mentor.

"Let's begin," Sakura said. She opened first with a direct chakra-fuelled punch at Neji, with the full intent of finding how he would redirect her offensive. He moved quickly, parrying her blow by moving sideways and gripping the back of her forearm, before he swivelled and elbowed her hard in her back, causing her to crash several meters away from him.

"Neji-san, take it easy!" she heard Lee shout out in concern. In a few seconds Lee himself was assisting her to get up. She tried not to show how much that hit hurt physically and ego-wise, but she couldn't help but wince when she got back on her feet.

"Neji, if you keep that up, Sakura-chan won't want to spar with us anymore!" Tenten complained loudly. "And I like her around, she ups the cuteness of this team by like, a hundred percent."

"Neji-san, you should really consider about renaming that fighting style of yours. It's a misnomer." Sakura acknowledged with a grimace.

Neji simply shrugged. "Maybe I'll bring it up with Hinata-sama when she is clan leader someday." Was that a joke? With Neji, Sakura couldn't be sure. She took up her stance again, Neji doing the same. She opened again with the same attack, and Neji countered the same, but this time, she mirrored his movements. They spun around each other in a graceful swivel, Sakura mindful to keep an eye to mimic Neji's next move. They continued this for a while, parrying and countering each other in a dance, until Neji decided to end it with a quick sweeping kick, which made her fall hard on her behind.

"NEJI!" she heard Tenten scold.

The Hyuga shrugged. "What? It's time for lunch, anyway."

Lee, ever the gentleman, was already next to her in a flash. Sakura had long given up trying to turn down Lee's helpful gestures. He was, after all, not undermining her, but he wasn't one to ignore a lady flat on her butt.

"Sorry about that," Lee apologized.

"Oh, no, no, no." Sakura protested as she glanced at Neji's retreating back. "It's alright."

She settled herself under a tree with the rest of Team Gai as they dug into their lunch. They talked about nothing in particular, gossip and news about the other villages, rumored S-class missions. It took a while, a whole year actually, before the other teams began to feel comfortable talking about these normal, everyday things with her. Sasuke's absence had plagued her, more than in of itself, but with how she related with other people, like the mere mention of his name would drive her into hysterical tears. He hung over her like a dark cloud, for everyone to see. Fortunately, eventually they all had stopped stepping on eggshells around her and talked normally, although Sasuke's name was hardly, if ever, mentioned at all.

"So, Sakura-chan," Gai-sensei began conversationally. "How is my eternal rival?"

"Well, I'm supposed to check up on him at the hospital after training." she said, trying to talk over Neji and Tenten's bickering ("You're such a show-off!" "No I'm not." "Yes, you so are.") "It doesn't seem to be too serious, his confinement, but he'll be needing a lot of rest."

The jounin nodded solemnly. Sakura was quite surprised how...calm Gai-sensei was on a normal basis (i.e. when Kakashi-sensei wasn't around to rile him up with his mere presence). "Well, I look forward to our next challenge. Please let him know that."

"Yes, Gai-sensei," Sakura said obediently, not that Kakashi-sensei needed any reminding on that front.

Beside her, Pakkun dozed, little nose twitching. It was really a nice day, Sakura thought. She was glad that Team 7's unofficial dissolution didn't mean that she got left out on things. Admittedly, she had been afraid of that, and loathe as she was to deny Naruto to strike out on her own, she did feel a sense of abandonment after everything was said and done. Maybe that's why she clung onto Kakashi-sensei in her own way. He was the only remnant of what had been her life before.

The thought of her former teacher spurred her onto her feet, waking Pakkun up. "Thanks for letting me train, Gai, Lee-kun, everyone," she said, bowing slightly. "But I've really got to go back to the hospital."

"Aw, already?" Lee made no effort in hiding his disappointment, bless him. "But you only just got here! We hardly see you around anymore, Sakura-chan."

"Lee, you're so clingy..." Tenten muttered.

Sakura smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Lee-kun. I'll make it up to you one of these days." Pakkun was already on his feet, ready to go. With another bow, she ran off, but was stopped by Neji's voice.

"Sakura-san."

The Hyuga approached her and bowed formally. "Your technique could use some more work. You're welcome to spar with me or Hinata-sama at the Hyuga compound."

Sakura blinked, slightly taken aback. She chanced a look at Tenten, wondering if the kunoichi put Neji up to this. She wouldn't know, since the girl had now turned her attention to Lee, laughing away quietly. Sakura looked back at Neji. "That's very kind of you, Neji-san. Thank you."

"Alright." he hesitated, pale eyes resting on her face tentatively, as if choosing his words carefully. "Well, have a good day, then." With that, he turned to go.

Huh. How strange.

"Well, that's nice of him." Pakkun remarked. Sakura jumped a little. She had forgotten he was around.

"Neji-san's improved a lot over the years, he was worse than Sasuke-kun when I first met him," Sakura admitted as they began their walk towards Konoha Hospital, the pug trotting beside her.

"People can change," Pakkun said, astute as always.

She wondered if he was talking about Neji or Sasuke. She shrugged. "They can. But I'm finding out that they'd only change if they really want to. Sometimes I think..." she sighed. And here she was so happy to have one day without Sasuke being brought up.

"What?" Pakkun prodded.

"Kakashi-sensei told me that Orochimaru's curse seal wouldn't have had that much power over Sasuke-kun if Sasuke had really fought against it." She looked up at the sky, the fluffy white clouds. It was a really nice day. Pity. "I sometimes wonder who I really was talking to that night he left-Sasuke or his rage. But now I'm starting to think that they were one and the same all along."

"Hmmm." Pakkun looked thoughtful, his little paws pit-pattering against the pavement as they navigated through Konoha's city proper. "I didn't know Sasuke all that well, and to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to. But he's not the only one who's had a difficult life around here. Naruto had a hard life. Neji had a difficult life, as well. But they are not as half as enraged and vengeful as Sasuke. Kakashi-"

Sakura sharply turned her head towards Pakkun. "Sensei? What about him?"

"Nothing." Pakkun said quickly. "My point is, Sasuke's life is quite tragic. What happened to him is horrifying and unprecedented. But..."

"But what?"

"Nothing." The ninken seemed anxious to drop the matter entirely and hurried along. Sakura had half the mind to yell at him about it...but she'd have to catch up with him first. Pakkun had already disappeared in the crowd.

* * *

Kakashi-sensei's room was quiet save for the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor. Sakura slid the door closed behind her softly and let Pakkun out of her bag. The pug tolerated the ignominy of being stuffed inside her messenger bag. In fact, Sakura was pretty sure that the nurse at the reception knew that she was keeping a dog in there, but let it slide because of all the work she did for the hospital. She was officially the worst ninja ever.

Pakkun hopped onto the hospital bed and mirroring what he did earlier to her, placed soft paws on the copy ninja's face. Unfortunately, this didn't wake Kakashi-sensei up. The older man slept on, oblivious to the world.

She checked his vital signs and checked his stats. Pretty much the same as yesterday Sighing, she made sure that his sheets were tucked in well. It was the least she could do.

She studied his sleeping face for a few moments. She remembered being twelve years old, being in the same position of caretaker of him after that fight with Zabuza. She didn't feel too concerned then-he had seemed so strong and he just needed to sleep it off. But nowadays, she started to feel a little bit...scared? For him. Surely, being knocked unconscious for days on end was not good for you? The sharingan, despite the nearly flawless transplant, still whirled with its own foreign chakra and power. Kakashi-sensei just only barely managed to keep it under control, and it was only now that Sakura was beginning to think that this may have more serious repercussions later on in his life.

She reached out to scratch Pakkun's ear. "Happy now?" she asked.

The little dog sighed heavily. "A bit, I guess. You're going to stay?"

"Of course. Got some reading to catch up on." She held up her heavy medical textbook, as if to prove that she was really a medic-nin student. Pakkun gave her one of his trademark toothy grins before snuggling right on top of Kakashi's chest. It was endearing, really. It never occurred to her how attached Pakkun was to his summoner, considering how prickly the both of them were. Sakura settled on one of the couches with a small smile. She was used to this, watching over Kakashi, reading from her textbooks aloud (talking to comatose patients were good). It used to be a lonely existence, but she thought about Team Gai and Neji's generous offer and it didn't really feel like that anymore.

* * *

She wasn't sure what time she fell asleep, but it was still dark out when she was shaken awake.

Tsunade-sama's amber eyes glimmered in the half-light as she peered into Sakura's face. Her shinobi instincts took over and she quickly assessed the situation: Kakashi was already awake and sitting up in his bed, arms crossed, expression serious. Pakkun was nowhere to be found. Two ANBU operatives stood near the foot of the hospital bed, their masks glowing faintly in the moonlight.

The Hokage didn't spare her any greetings nor pleasantries. "Sakura, it's time to go home now."

"Tsunade-sama?" she rubbed her eyes, glancing between her two mentors. "What's going on? Kakashi-sensei, you're awake, that's so good..." she began weakly. She made a move towards him, but was stopped in her tracks.

Kakashi refused to look at her. "I think you should go, Sakura," he said, his voice flat.

"Oh, alright." She tried to keep the hurt out of her voice as she hurriedly scrambled to collect her things. Where was Pakkun? What was going on? Why was Kakashi angry? But she really had no time to think these over as she darted out of the room, things still falling out of her bag.

The door slammed shut in her face. Sakura stared at it for a whole two minutes, the situation not really settling in just yet.

"Hey." Pakkun's voice called out to her from down the hall. The dog raised himself up from a sleeping position, cocking his head. "They threw you out?"

Sakura nodded mutely. The pug wandered over and sighed.

"Well, not the first time it happened. You don't have to look like they, well, like they killed your pet." he laid a consoling paw on her right foot.

"Pakkun...how'd he wake up?"

The ninken sighed heavily again. "The Hokage induced him to wake up. She has that ability."

She filed that information away for future reference. "Isn't that bad for him, though?"

"I should think so." Pakkun scratched his head with his hind leg. "We shouldn't really talk about it here. Let me take you home." The idea that such a small dog would be escorting her home would've been laughable a few years ago, but Sakura had seen enough of Pakkun's skills to know that he was formidable.

No more words were shared the whole walk home until they finally reached Sakura's apartment. Before she slid the key in, she looked at Pakkun. "Hey..."

"Hmm?"

"Pakkun...if anything happens to Kakashi-sensei, you'll let me know, right?"

He looked surprised. "Of course, Sakura-chan. You didn't have to ask."

It was her turn to be surprised. "I didn't?"

"If it helps any, you're the emergency contact he listed in his records. He didn't have one for the longest time." How and why Pakkun was privy to this information would remain a mystery for a very long time.

"I am?" Why did this information make her so sad and so relieved at the same time? How could anyone go to A-class and S-class missions without an emergency contact? How long had Kakashi been alone?

Pakkun shook his head and padded on ahead. "Whatever happened back there in the hospital, Sakura-chan, you shouldn't take against him." Sakura nodded dumbly and followed him in.

The dogs were sprawled around her apartment exactly as she had left them (well, not exactly...someone had slobbered dog food on her carpet). Bull raised his head and gave a woof hello. She went over to check if he was healing well, which seemed the case.

Still slightly dazed over the day's events, Sakura actually went on to clean up her apartment, much to the ninken's disgruntlement. At the end of it, she was so tired that she finally collapsed on her bed and fell asleep.

* * *

A week had passed until she heard from Kakashi again.

Tsunade-sama was away again and she took up Neji's offer to learn more from him. She was turning to become like Lee: All work and hardly any play. On the upside, her little knowledge of Gentle Fist was improving. At least, Neji seemed to think so. The Hyuga clapped her back in a surprisingly friendly way. "Well done, Sakura-san. A little more practice and I might get penalized for teaching you too much."

"Ah, well!" she giggled, unsure. "I'm sorry in advance?"

"You're amazing, Sakura-chan!" Lee enthused.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei is here." Tenten said, pointing to the other side of the training grounds. Sure enough, the silver-haired stood there, smiling behind his mask as he was wont to do. He waved over at her.

Sakura nodded at Team Gai before she approached her jounin-sensei. She wondered if she should show she was annoyed at him due to the past week's events, but truthfully, it was water off her back the moment Pakkun told her about being Kakashi's emergency contact. "Hi, sensei! What's up?"

He scratched the area just above his lopsided hitai-ate. "Looks like I missed your spar with Neji."

She raised an eyebrow. "Not that you were ever interested in this thing called my training!"

He made a pouting sound. "You wound me." He handed a rather large box to her. "This is for you."

She blinked in surprise. Kakashi wasn't exactly a person known for giving gifts. She opened it in one movement. A pair of uniform shoes lay nestled in the box. She looked up again. "What's this for?"

"Pakkun told me about your sad shoe situation. Why don't you buy new ones? You shouldn't wear the same pair two days in a row, Sakura-chan. You'd wear them out quicker doing that."

"Well, thanks for the information, but you didn't really need to."

"Just try them one of these days, you'll see." Kakashi replied, evading her response. He gave her a two-finger salute. "Well, I better get going."

She hesitated for a split second, then caught on the sleeve of his sweater. "Sensei, wait."

"Hn?"

"I'd just like to ask a favor too, since you ask me favors all the time."

"I'd like to argue that, but I'm afraid I don't have time. What is it?"

"Pakkun told me that I'm your emergency contact; is this true?" She forced herself to look him straight in the eye.

He didn't even blink. "Yes, it's true."

"Well, then...is it alright if you be my emergency contact, too?"

Now he looked surprised. "But you have your parents," he said softly.

"I know. But I feel better if you were my emergency contact, too. You know better what to do with me than them, anyway." she said truthfully. They both fell silent. What remained unsaid, that they were all that was left of Team 7, hung in the air, heavy like oncoming rain.

He closed his one visible eye. "Alright, Sakura. If that's what you want."

She nodded. "That's what I want."

"I don't promise to come on time to your funeral on time, though."

"I would _never _demand that of you."

"Good girl." She finally let him go, and watched him disappear in one quick movement. She glanced down at her new shoes. How odd. Leave it to Kakashi to give her such a...practical gift. She wondered if it was to make up for the way he dismissed her last week. With Kakashi, she really wouldn't know. But still, it felt nice. He did look after her in his own way.

With a smile, she replaced the cover back on the box and walked back to where Team Gai was waiting.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm sooooooo sorry for the late update!

I've always been intrigued by Team 7's "lost years" aka the two years where Sakura and Naruto were off training and Kakashi was...doing whatever it was he was doing. I could write so much stuff around these years, but I would like to think that Kakashi and Sakura were pretty much each other's support group at this time. I wanted to capture what Sakura's normal day would've been like at this time, so I'm sorry if this is not as plotty as you would've liked. AND YES NEJI HNNNNNG I WANTED TO INCLUDE HIM AND TEAM GAI SO BAD, KISHI WAS AWFUL TO THEM.

As always, I'd really love it if you left a review! Thank you for reading.


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